Best PlacesRiverton, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Riverton, 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.
Riverton ranks 48,383rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and low incomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Riverton
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.
Riverton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Riverton ranks high
- Cheap childcare$340 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 97% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 83% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 82% of towns
Where Riverton ranks low
- Household income$42,029 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Riverton
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Riverton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $42,029, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Riverton's effective rate of 0.46%, 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 Riverton
Riverton runs younger 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 Riverton.
Who works in Riverton, and how
Work in Riverton centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Riverton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Riverton.
What the weather is like in Riverton, month by month
Riverton sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 38° | 31° |
| April | 72° | 60° | 50° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 76° | 62° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Riverton
The nearest airport, Waynesville-St Robert Regional Forney Field, is about 91 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 131 miles away.
The best schools in and around Riverton
Schools across Riverton average a D+, better than 18% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Alton ElementaryC · 32% proficient
- Couch Elem.C− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Alton HighD · 23% proficient
- Couch HighD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Riverton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Riverton 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 Riverton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Riverton
Is Riverton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Riverton ranks 48,383rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a strong job market, and tree cover, and lowest on low incomes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Riverton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $234,700. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $42,029 median income, cost of living beats 7% of towns.
Is Riverton safe?
Riverton is safer than 4% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $825 per resident a year.
Compare Riverton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Riverton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Riverton 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.
Riverton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Riverton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Riverton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Riverton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Riverton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Riverton 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.