Best PlacesMerwin, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Merwin, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Merwin ranks 43,505th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Merwin
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Merwin's strengths and weaknesses
Where Merwin ranks high
- Cheap childcare$412 a month, better than 98% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 80% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 65% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 94 pleasant days a year, better than 64% of towns
Where Merwin ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Short commute40.2 minutes each way, better than only 5% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 8% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Merwin
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Merwin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,886, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Merwin's effective rate of 0.47%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Merwin
Merwin runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Merwin.
Who works in Merwin, and how
Work in Merwin centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Merwin
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Merwin.
What the weather is like in Merwin, month by month
Merwin sees roughly 94 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 25° |
| April | 70° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Merwin
Kansas City International sits about 61 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.7 million passengers in 2025, with 104 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Merwin
Schools across Merwin average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Miami Elem.B+ · 52% proficient
- Drexel Elem.D+ · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Drexel HighC− · 28% proficient
- Miami HighD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Merwin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Merwin measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Merwin against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Merwin
Is Merwin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Merwin ranks 43,505th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, low property taxes, and state finances, and lowest on noise and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Merwin expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $198,059. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $65,886 median income, cost of living beats 35% of towns.
Is Merwin safe?
Merwin is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $413 per resident a year.
Compare Merwin with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Merwin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Merwin represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Merwin detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Merwin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Merwin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Merwin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Merwin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Merwin detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.