Best PlacesOld Bland, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Old Bland, 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.
Old Bland ranks 40,729th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and low incomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Old Bland
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.
Old Bland's strengths and weaknesses
Where Old Bland ranks high
- Short commute17.0 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
- Cheap childcare$497 a month, better than 93% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 80% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 78% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 74% of towns
Where Old Bland ranks low
- Household income$49,236 median, better than only 11% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 15% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 15% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Old Bland
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Old Bland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $49,236; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Old Bland's effective rate of 0.49%, 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 Old Bland
Old Bland 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 Old Bland.
Who works in Old Bland, and how
Work in Old Bland centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Old Bland
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Old Bland.
What the weather is like in Old Bland, month by month
Old Bland sees roughly 73 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 Old Bland
The nearest airport, Columbia Regional, is about 49 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 72 miles away.
The best schools in and around Old Bland
Schools across Old Bland average a C+, better than 45% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Belle Elem.B · 45% proficient
- Owensville Elem.C+ · 39% proficient
Top middle schools
- Owensville MiddleB− · 41% proficient
- Maries Co. MiddleC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Owensville HighC+ · 35% proficient
- Belle HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Old Bland school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Old Bland 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 Old Bland against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Old Bland
Is Old Bland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Old Bland ranks 40,729th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, affordable childcare, and civic engagement, and lowest on low incomes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Old Bland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $204,300. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $49,236 median income, cost of living beats 15% of towns.
Is Old Bland safe?
Old Bland is safer than 19% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $522 per resident a year.
Compare Old Bland with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Old Bland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Old Bland 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.
Old Bland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Old Bland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Old Bland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Old Bland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Old Bland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Old Bland 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.