Best PlacesRaytown, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Raytown, 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.
Raytown ranks 1,724th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Raytown
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.
Raytown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Raytown ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 80% of cities
- Cheap childcare$840 a month, better than 77% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 77% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 72% of cities
Where Raytown ranks low
- School gradeD, better than only 5% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 5% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than only 11% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 20% of cities
- Household income$71,356 median, better than only 24% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Raytown
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Raytown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,356, 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 Raytown's effective rate of 1.16%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Raytown
Raytown 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 Raytown.
Who works in Raytown, and how
Work in Raytown centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Raytown
Raytown has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of cities and more parkland per resident than 92% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Raytown and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Raytown, month by month
Raytown sees roughly 94 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 Raytown
Kansas City International sits about 25 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 Raytown
Schools across Raytown average a D, better than 5% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Hazel Grove Elem.B · 47% proficient
- Robinson Elem.C · 32% proficient
- Fleetridge Elem.C− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bernard C. Campbell MiddleB · 44% proficient
- Raytown Central MiddleD · 23% proficient
- Raytown MiddleD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Lee's Summit North HighB · 49% proficient
- Ruskin High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Raytown Sr. HighD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Raytown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Raytown 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 Raytown against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Raytown suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Raytown
Is Raytown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Raytown ranks 1,724th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on fast internet, state finances, and affordable childcare, and lowest on the schools and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Raytown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $175,487. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $71,356 median income, cost of living beats 43% of cities.
Is Raytown safe?
Raytown is safer than 5% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $668 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Raytown?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 24. That works out to about 94 pleasant days a year, more than 56% of cities.
Is Raytown good for families?
Schools beat 5% of cities, crime safety beats 5%, and childcare runs $840 a month.
Compare Raytown with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Raytown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Raytown 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.
Raytown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Raytown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Raytown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Raytown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Raytown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Raytown 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.