Best PlacesRector, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rector, 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.
Rector ranks 41,910th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rector
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.
Rector's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rector ranks high
- Cheap childcare$380 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 83% of towns
- QuietBetter than 77% of towns
Where Rector ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 8% of towns
- Household income$49,878 median, better than only 12% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rector
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rector home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $49,878, 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 Rector's effective rate of 0.27%, 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 Rector
Rector 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 Rector.
Who works in Rector, and how
Work in Rector centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Rector
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rector.
What the weather is like in Rector, month by month
Rector sees roughly 100 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 70° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 89° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 71° | 56° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Rector
The nearest airport, Waynesville-St Robert Regional Forney Field, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 112 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rector
Schools across Rector average a C, better than 33% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Summersville Elem.C · 33% proficient
- Oak Hill Elem.C− · 27% proficient
- Eminence Elem.C− · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Summersville HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Eminence HighC+ · 35% proficient
- Winona HighC · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rector school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rector 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 Rector against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rector
Is Rector a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rector ranks 41,910th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, low property taxes, and tree cover, and lowest on biking and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rector expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $177,725. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $49,878 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is Rector safe?
Rector is safer than 16% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $588 per resident a year.
Compare Rector with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rector. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rector 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.
Rector detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rector: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rector: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rector: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rector: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rector 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.