Best PlacesPalmyra, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Palmyra, 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.
Palmyra ranks 15,073rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Palmyra
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.
Palmyra's strengths and weaknesses
Where Palmyra ranks high
- Cheap childcare$456 a month, better than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute18.1 minutes each way, better than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 82% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 81% of towns
Where Palmyra ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 25% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 26% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 27% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Palmyra
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Palmyra home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,639, 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 Palmyra's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 Palmyra
Palmyra's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Palmyra.
Who works in Palmyra, and how
Work in Palmyra centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Palmyra
Palmyra has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Palmyra and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Palmyra, month by month
Palmyra sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 39, 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 | 39° | 30° | 24° |
| April | 67° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 69° | 58° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Palmyra
The nearest airport, Quincy Regional-Baldwin Field, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 96 miles away.
The best schools in and around Palmyra
Schools across Palmyra average a B, better than 64% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Palmyra Elem.B+ · 53% proficient
- Monroe City Elem.B · 50% proficient
- Veterans Elem.C · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Monroe City MiddleB · 45% proficient
- Hannibal MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
- Palmyra MiddleC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Marion Co. HighB+ · 52% proficient
- Palmyra HighB · 48% proficient
- Monroe City R-i HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Palmyra school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Palmyra 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 Palmyra against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Palmyra
Is Palmyra a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Palmyra ranks 15,073rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, walkability, and short commutes, and lowest on noise and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Palmyra expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $213,192. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $78,639 median income, cost of living beats 63% of towns.
Is Palmyra safe?
Palmyra is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $409 per resident a year.
Compare Palmyra with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Palmyra. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Palmyra 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.
Palmyra detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Palmyra: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Palmyra: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Palmyra: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Palmyra: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Palmyra 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.