Best PlacesOrange, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Orange, 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.
Orange ranks 27,857th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Orange
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.
Orange's strengths and weaknesses
Where Orange ranks high
- Cheap childcare$401 a month, better than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 92% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 79% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
Where Orange ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 15% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 20% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Orange
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Orange home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,151, 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 Orange's effective rate of 0.48%, 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 Orange
Orange 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 Orange.
Who works in Orange, and how
Work in Orange centers on transportation & warehousing and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Orange
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Orange.
What the weather is like in Orange, month by month
Orange 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 Orange
The nearest airport, Springfield-Branson Ntl, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 164 miles away.
The best schools in and around Orange
Schools across Orange average a B−, better than 53% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Marionville ElemB+ · 52% proficient
- Mt. Vernon IntermediateB · 47% proficient
- Robinson SchoolC · 32% 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 Orange school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Orange 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 Orange against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Orange
Is Orange a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Orange ranks 27,857th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, civic engagement, and a strong job market, and lowest on an overheated housing market and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Orange expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $227,890. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $75,151 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Orange safe?
Yes, Orange is safer than 69% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $297 per resident a year.
Compare Orange with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Orange. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Orange 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.
Orange detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Orange: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Orange: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Orange: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Orange: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Orange 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.