Best PlacesNorthwoods, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Northwoods, 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.
Northwoods ranks 50,057th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Northwoods
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.
Northwoods' strengths and weaknesses
Where Northwoods ranks high
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of towns
Where Northwoods ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- Household income$41,300 median, better than only 3% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Northwoods
A household needs to earn about $22,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Northwoods home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $41,300, 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 Northwoods' effective rate of 1.93%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Northwoods
Northwoods runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Northwoods.
Who works in Northwoods, and how
Work in Northwoods centers on transportation & warehousing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Northwoods
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Northwoods.
What the weather is like in Northwoods, month by month
Northwoods sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 72° | 58° | 46° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 71° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Northwoods
St Louis Lambert International sits about 6 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.5 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Northwoods
Schools across Northwoods average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fairview PrimaryC− · 30% proficient
- Jefferson Elem.D− · 12% proficient
- Barack Obama Elementary SchoolF · 5% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fairview IntermediateF · 6% proficient
Top high schools
- The Innovation School At CvF · 10% proficient
- Jennings HighF · 8% proficient
- Normandy HighF · 7% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Northwoods school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Northwoods 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 Northwoods against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Northwoods
Is Northwoods a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Northwoods ranks 50,057th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, cell coverage, and biking, and lowest on crime and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Northwoods expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $72,974. The overall cost of living runs about 26% below the national average. Set against a $41,300 median income, cost of living beats 10% of towns.
Is Northwoods safe?
Northwoods is safer than 0% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,462 per resident a year.
Compare Northwoods with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Northwoods. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Northwoods 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.
Northwoods detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Northwoods: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Northwoods: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Northwoods: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Northwoods: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Northwoods 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.