Best PlacesPilot Grove, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pilot Grove, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Pilot Grove ranks 21,981st 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 Pilot Grove
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.
Pilot Grove's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pilot Grove ranks high
- Cheap childcare$455 a month, better than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 83% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 80% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 77% of towns
Where Pilot Grove ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 55 pleasant days a year, better than only 2% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 24% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 24% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pilot Grove
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pilot Grove home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,411, 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 Pilot Grove'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, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pilot Grove
Pilot Grove'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 Pilot Grove.
Who works in Pilot Grove, and how
Work in Pilot Grove centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Pilot Grove
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pilot Grove.
What the weather is like in Pilot Grove, month by month
Pilot Grove sees roughly 55 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 32° | 25° |
| April | 70° | 57° | 47° |
| July | 92° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 74° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Pilot Grove
The nearest airport, Columbia Regional, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 100 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pilot Grove
Schools across Pilot Grove average a C, better than 36% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pilot Grove Elem.C+ · 37% proficient
- Blackwater Elem.C+ · 37% proficient
- David Barton Elem.C · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Laura Speed Elliott MiddleD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Boonville HighB− · 45% proficient
- Pilot Grove HighC · 32% proficient
- Smithton HighC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pilot Grove school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pilot Grove 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 Pilot Grove against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pilot Grove
Is Pilot Grove a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pilot Grove ranks 21,981st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, walkability, and biking, and lowest on air quality and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pilot Grove expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $172,256. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $80,411 median income, cost of living beats 77% of towns.
Is Pilot Grove safe?
Yes, Pilot Grove is safer than 71% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $290 per resident a year.
Compare Pilot Grove with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pilot Grove. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pilot Grove 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.
Pilot Grove detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pilot Grove: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pilot Grove: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pilot Grove: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pilot Grove: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pilot Grove 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.