Best PlacesPleasant Hill, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pleasant Hill, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Pleasant Hill ranks 7,714th 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 Pleasant Hill
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.
Pleasant Hill's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pleasant Hill ranks high
- Cheap childcare$392 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 87% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 87% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of towns
Where Pleasant Hill ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 19% of towns
- Short commute33.2 minutes each way, better than only 19% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 23% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 31% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pleasant Hill
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pleasant Hill home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $100,453, 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 Pleasant Hill's effective rate of 0.80%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pleasant Hill
Pleasant Hill'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 Pleasant Hill.
Who works in Pleasant Hill, and how
Work in Pleasant Hill centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Pleasant Hill
Pleasant Hill has more restaurants and bars per resident than 66% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Pleasant Hill and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Pleasant Hill, month by month
Pleasant Hill sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 31° | 24° |
| April | 68° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 89° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 70° | 59° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Pleasant Hill
Kansas City International sits about 42 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.7 million passengers in 2025, with 104 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Pleasant Hill
Schools across Pleasant Hill average a B−, better than 57% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Timber Creek Elem.A− · 57% proficient
- Woodland Elem.A− · 56% proficient
- East Lynne Elem.B · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pleasant Hill IntermediateB · 44% proficient
- Pleasant Lea MiddleB · 44% proficient
- Pleasant Hill MiddleB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Raymore-peculiar Sr. HighB− · 43% proficient
- Harrisonville HighB− · 42% proficient
- Lee's Summit Sr. HighB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pleasant Hill school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pleasant Hill 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 Pleasant Hill against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pleasant Hill
Is Pleasant Hill a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pleasant Hill ranks 7,714th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, civic engagement, and few empty homes, and lowest on noise and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pleasant Hill expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $300,596. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $100,453 median income, cost of living beats 87% of towns.
Is Pleasant Hill safe?
Yes, Pleasant Hill is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $290 per resident a year.
Compare Pleasant Hill with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pleasant Hill. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pleasant Hill 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.
Pleasant Hill detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pleasant Hill: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pleasant Hill: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pleasant Hill: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pleasant Hill: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pleasant Hill 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.