Best PlacesPlad, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Plad, 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.
Plad ranks 45,609th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Plad
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.
Plad's strengths and weaknesses
Where Plad ranks high
- Cheap childcare$370 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 98% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 90% of towns
- Short commute20.8 minutes each way, better than 85% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
Where Plad ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$29,478 median, better than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Plad
A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Plad home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $29,478, 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 Plad's effective rate of 0.37%, 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 Plad
Plad runs older 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 Plad.
Who works in Plad, and how
Work in Plad centers on hospitality & food and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Plad
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Plad.
What the weather is like in Plad, month by month
Plad sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 27° |
| April | 69° | 57° | 47° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 70° | 59° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Plad
The nearest airport, Springfield-Branson Ntl, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 141 miles away.
The best schools in and around Plad
Schools across Plad average a B, better than 69% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Skyline Elem.A+ · 80% proficient
- Boswell Elem.C · 31% proficient
- Mallory Elem.C− · 29% proficient
Top middle schools
- Skyline MiddleA− · 57% proficient
- Buffalo MiddleC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Skyline HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Buffalo HighD · 23% proficient
- Lebanon Sr. HighD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Plad school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Plad 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 Plad against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Plad
Is Plad a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Plad ranks 45,609th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a strong job market, and low property taxes, and lowest on internet speeds and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Plad expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $109,975. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $29,478 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Plad safe?
Plad is safer than 36% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $415 per resident a year.
Compare Plad with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Plad. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Plad 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.
Plad detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Plad: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Plad: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Plad: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Plad: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Plad 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.