Best PlacesOsage Bend, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Osage Bend, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Osage Bend ranks 7,629th 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 Osage Bend
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.
Osage Bend's strengths and weaknesses
Where Osage Bend ranks high
- Cheap childcare$408 a month, better than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$112,499 median, better than 91% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 87% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 85% of towns
Where Osage Bend ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 11% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 13% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Osage Bend
A household needs to earn about $77,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Osage Bend home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $112,499, 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 Osage Bend's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 Osage Bend
Osage Bend runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Osage Bend.
Who works in Osage Bend, and how
Work in Osage Bend centers on manufacturing and public administration. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Osage Bend
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Osage Bend.
What the weather is like in Osage Bend, month by month
Osage Bend sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 25° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Osage Bend
The nearest airport, Columbia Regional, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 99 miles away.
The best schools in and around Osage Bend
Schools across Osage Bend average a B+, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Blair Oaks Elem.A+ · 73% proficient
- Fatima Elem.B+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Blair Oaks Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Blair Oaks HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Fatima HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Osage Bend school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Osage Bend 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 Osage Bend against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Osage Bend
Is Osage Bend a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Osage Bend ranks 7,629th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, what local pay buys, and high incomes, and lowest on air quality and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Osage Bend expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $305,719. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $112,499 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Osage Bend safe?
Osage Bend is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $470 per resident a year.
Compare Osage Bend with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Osage Bend. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Osage Bend 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.
Osage Bend detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Osage Bend: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Osage Bend: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Osage Bend: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Osage Bend: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Osage Bend 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.