Best PlacesMount Airy, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mount Airy, 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.
Mount Airy ranks 37,830th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mount Airy
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.
Mount Airy's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mount Airy ranks high
- Cheap childcare$397 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 97% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 78% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
Where Mount Airy ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mount Airy
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mount Airy home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,728, 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 Mount Airy's effective rate of 0.66%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mount Airy
Mount Airy's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mount Airy.
Who works in Mount Airy, and how
Work in Mount Airy centers on retail trade and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Mount Airy
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mount Airy.
What the weather is like in Mount Airy, month by month
Mount Airy sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 32° | 25° |
| April | 70° | 57° | 47° |
| July | 92° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 74° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Mount Airy
The nearest airport, Kirksville Regional, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 116 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mount Airy
Schools across Mount Airy average a B−, better than 58% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Westran Elem.B+ · 53% proficient
- Northeast Elem.B · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Moberly MiddleB · 43% proficient
- Westran MiddleB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Westran HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mount Airy school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mount Airy 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 Mount Airy against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mount Airy
Is Mount Airy a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mount Airy ranks 37,830th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a strong job market, and low disaster risk, and lowest on air quality and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mount Airy expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $180,195. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $55,728 median income, cost of living beats 25% of towns.
Is Mount Airy safe?
Yes, Mount Airy is safer than 78% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $272 per resident a year.
Compare Mount Airy with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mount Airy. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mount Airy 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.
Mount Airy detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mount Airy: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mount Airy: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mount Airy: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mount Airy: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mount Airy 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.