Best PlacesMount Sterling, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mount Sterling, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Mount Sterling ranks 18,728th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mount Sterling
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 Sterling's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mount Sterling ranks high
- Cheap childcare$497 a month, better than 93% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 92% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 79% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
- Household income$84,874 median, better than 71% of towns
Where Mount Sterling ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 14% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mount Sterling
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mount Sterling home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $84,874, 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 Sterling's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 Mount Sterling
Mount Sterling runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mount Sterling.
Who works in Mount Sterling, and how
Work in Mount Sterling centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Mount Sterling
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mount Sterling.
What the weather is like in Mount Sterling, month by month
Mount Sterling sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 32° | 24° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Mount Sterling
The nearest airport, Columbia Regional, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 73 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mount Sterling
Schools across Mount Sterling average a B−, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Osage Co. Elem.B− · 40% proficient
- Owensville Elem.C+ · 39% proficient
- Hermann Elem.C− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hermann MiddleB · 45% proficient
- Owensville MiddleB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Hermann HighB · 47% proficient
- Fatima HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Owensville HighC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mount Sterling school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mount Sterling 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 Sterling against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mount Sterling
Is Mount Sterling a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mount Sterling ranks 18,728th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a strong job market, and what local pay buys, and lowest on empty homes and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mount Sterling expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $183,200. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $84,874 median income, cost of living beats 79% of towns.
Is Mount Sterling safe?
Yes, Mount Sterling is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $316 per resident a year.
Compare Mount Sterling with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mount Sterling. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mount Sterling 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 Sterling detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mount Sterling: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mount Sterling: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mount Sterling: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mount Sterling: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mount Sterling 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.