Best PlacesPicher, OK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Picher, 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.
Picher ranks 40,256th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Picher
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.
Picher's strengths and weaknesses
Where Picher ranks high
- Short commute7.4 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 89% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 75% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 61% of towns
Where Picher ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 2% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Picher
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Picher home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $58,977, 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 Picher's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Picher
Picher 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 Picher.
Who works in Picher, and how
Work in Picher centers on agriculture & forestry and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Picher
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Picher.
What the weather is like in Picher, month by month
Picher sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 71° | 58° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 71° |
| October | 73° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Picher
The nearest airport, Joplin Regional, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 160 miles away.
The best schools in and around Picher
Schools across Picher average a D−, better than 2% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Quapaw EsD · 17% proficient
- Alexander EsD− · 12% proficient
Top middle schools
- Commerce MsD− · 18% proficient
- Quapaw MsF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- Commerce HsD− · 14% proficient
- Quapaw HsF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Picher school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Picher 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 Picher against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Picher
Is Picher a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Picher ranks 40,256th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, state finances, and a stable housing market, and lowest on education levels and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Picher expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $153,500. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $58,977 median income, cost of living beats 43% of towns.
Is Picher safe?
Yes, Picher is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $286 per resident a year.
Compare Picher with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Picher. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Picher 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.
Picher detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Picher: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Picher: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Picher: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Picher: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Picher 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.