Best PlacesOttawa County, OK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Ottawa County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ottawa County ranks 2,786th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The schools pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on state finances.
The best neighborhoods in Ottawa County
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.
The best areas in Ottawa County
The parts of Ottawa County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Commerce
More households have young kids, prices have run up less, and commutes are shorter.
Wyandotte
Tree cover is thicker, though streets are more car-dependent.
Miami
Crime runs higher and more homes sit empty.
Scores across Ottawa County run from about the 3rd to the 38th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Ottawa County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ottawa County ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 84% of counties
- Short commute20.6 minutes each way, better than 75% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 68% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 66% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 62% of counties
Where Ottawa County ranks low
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of counties
- Household income$50,575 median, better than only 9% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 10% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Ottawa County
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ottawa County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $50,575, 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 Ottawa County's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ottawa County
Ottawa County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ottawa County.
Who works in Ottawa County, and how
Work in Ottawa County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Ottawa County
Ottawa County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of counties and more parkland per resident than 69% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ottawa County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Ottawa County growing, and who is moving in?
Ottawa County has lost about 5% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Joplin, MO.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Ottawa County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Ottawa County, month by month
Ottawa County sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 36° | 28° |
| April | 72° | 59° | 48° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 73° | 60° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Ottawa County
The nearest airport, Joplin Regional, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 169 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ottawa County
Schools across Ottawa County average a D, better than 6% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Welch EsC+ · 37% proficient
- Fairland EsC− · 30% proficient
- Roosevelt EsC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Nichols Upper EsC− · 30% proficient
- Fairland MsD · 20% proficient
- Commerce MsD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Fairland HsC− · 27% proficient
- Bluejacket HsD+ · 25% proficient
- Wyandotte HsD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ottawa County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ottawa County 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 Ottawa County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Ottawa County suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Ottawa County
Is Ottawa County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ottawa County ranks 2,786th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state finances, short commutes, and a strong job market, and lowest on the schools and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ottawa County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $129,410. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $50,575 median income, cost of living beats 14% of counties.
Is Ottawa County safe?
Ottawa County is safer than 50% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $440 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ottawa County?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 48 with lows near 28. That works out to about 77 pleasant days a year, more than 33% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Ottawa County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Commerce, Wyandotte, and Miami. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Ottawa County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ottawa County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ottawa County 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.
Ottawa County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ottawa County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ottawa County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ottawa County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ottawa County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ottawa County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.