Best PlacesRea, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rea, 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.
Rea ranks 18,644th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rea
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.
Rea's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rea ranks high
- Cheap childcare$489 a month, better than 93% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 87% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 80% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 79% of towns
- Short commute22.9 minutes each way, better than 75% of towns
Where Rea ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 17% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 17% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 24% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 26% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rea
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rea home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,625, 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 Rea's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 Rea
Rea 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 Rea.
Who works in Rea, and how
Work in Rea centers on education and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Rea
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rea.
What the weather is like in Rea, month by month
Rea sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 28° | 20° |
| April | 68° | 54° | 43° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Rea
Kansas City International sits about 53 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 Rea
Schools across Rea average a C+, better than 48% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Andrew Elem.B+ · 53% proficient
- King City Elem.B · 47% proficient
- Union Star Elem.C− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Andrew MiddleC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- South Nodaway HighB− · 40% proficient
- King City HighC+ · 38% proficient
- North Andrew HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rea school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rea 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 Rea against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rea
Is Rea a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rea ranks 18,644th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, an educated workforce, and what local pay buys, and lowest on cell coverage and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rea expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $243,800. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $85,625 median income, cost of living beats 80% of towns.
Is Rea safe?
Rea is safer than 51% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $362 per resident a year.
Compare Rea with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rea. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rea 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.
Rea detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rea: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rea: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rea: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rea: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rea 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.