Best PlacesNeck City, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Neck City, 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.
Neck City ranks 17,791st 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 Neck City
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.
Neck City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Neck City ranks high
- Cheap childcare$381 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 94% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 89% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 79% of towns
Where Neck City ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 15% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 25% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 31% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Neck City
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Neck City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,097, 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 Neck City's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Neck City
Neck City runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Neck City.
Who works in Neck City, and how
Work in Neck City centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Neck City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Neck City.
What the weather is like in Neck City, month by month
Neck City sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 71° | 58° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 71° |
| October | 73° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Neck City
The nearest airport, Joplin Regional, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 141 miles away.
The best schools in and around Neck City
Schools across Neck City average a B, better than 63% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Jasper Co. Elem.C · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Webb City Jr. HighB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Webb City HighB− · 44% proficient
- Jasper Co. High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Neck City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Neck City 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 Neck City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Neck City
Is Neck City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Neck City ranks 17,791st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, fast internet, and a strong job market, and lowest on air quality and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Neck City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $170,187. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $67,097 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Neck City safe?
Yes, Neck City is safer than 79% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $256 per resident a year.
Compare Neck City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Neck City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Neck City 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.
Neck City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Neck City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Neck City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Neck City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Neck City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Neck City 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.