Best PlacesRich Fountain, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rich Fountain, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Rich Fountain ranks 25,288th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rich Fountain
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.
Rich Fountain's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rich Fountain ranks high
- Cheap childcare$497 a month, better than 93% of towns
- Short commute22.6 minutes each way, better than 77% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 74% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 73% of towns
Where Rich Fountain ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 10% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 22% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 22% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rich Fountain
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rich Fountain home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,783, 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 Rich Fountain's effective rate of 0.52%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rich Fountain
Rich Fountain's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Rich Fountain.
Who works in Rich Fountain, and how
Work in Rich Fountain centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Rich Fountain
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rich Fountain.
What the weather is like in Rich Fountain, month by month
Rich Fountain sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 25° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Rich Fountain
The nearest airport, Columbia Regional, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 84 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rich Fountain
Schools across Rich Fountain average a B−, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fatima Elem.B+ · 52% proficient
- Belle Elem.B · 45% proficient
- Osage Co. Elem.B− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Maries Co. MiddleC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Fatima HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Belle HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rich Fountain school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rich Fountain 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 Rich Fountain against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rich Fountain
Is Rich Fountain a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rich Fountain ranks 25,288th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, short commutes, and low property taxes, and lowest on air quality and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rich Fountain expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $219,533. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $65,783 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is Rich Fountain safe?
Yes, Rich Fountain is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $288 per resident a year.
Compare Rich Fountain with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rich Fountain. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rich Fountain 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.
Rich Fountain detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rich Fountain: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rich Fountain: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rich Fountain: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rich Fountain: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rich Fountain 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.