Best PlacesMount Vernon, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mount Vernon, 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 Vernon ranks 29,466th 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 Mount Vernon
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 Vernon's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mount Vernon ranks high
- Cheap childcare$401 a month, better than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 87% of towns
- BikingBetter than 83% of towns
Where Mount Vernon ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 9% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 24% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 25% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 26% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mount Vernon
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mount Vernon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,892, 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 Vernon's effective rate of 0.41%, 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 10 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 Vernon
Mount Vernon's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mount Vernon.
Who works in Mount Vernon, and how
Work in Mount Vernon centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Mount Vernon and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mount Vernon, month by month
Mount Vernon sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 35° | 28° |
| April | 68° | 56° | 47° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Mount Vernon
The nearest airport, Springfield-Branson Ntl, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 160 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mount Vernon
Schools across Mount Vernon average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Marionville ElemB+ · 52% proficient
- Mt. Vernon IntermediateB · 47% proficient
- Central Elem.C · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Marionville MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Mt. Vernon MiddleB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Marionville HighB · 50% proficient
- Aurora HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Mt. Vernon HighC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mount Vernon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mount Vernon 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 Vernon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mount Vernon
Is Mount Vernon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mount Vernon ranks 29,466th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, walkability, and cell coverage, and lowest on noise and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mount Vernon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $203,649. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $69,892 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is Mount Vernon safe?
Mount Vernon is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $409 per resident a year.
Compare Mount Vernon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mount Vernon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mount Vernon 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 Vernon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mount Vernon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mount Vernon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mount Vernon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mount Vernon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mount Vernon 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.