Best PlacesRoads, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Roads, 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.
Roads ranks 37,065th 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 Roads
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.
Roads' strengths and weaknesses
Where Roads ranks high
- Cheap childcare$439 a month, better than 98% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 79% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 74% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 67% of towns
Where Roads ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 11% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 16% of towns
- Short commute34.3 minutes each way, better than only 16% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Roads
A household needs to earn about $36,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Roads home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,925, 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 Roads' effective rate of 0.70%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Roads
Roads runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Roads.
Who works in Roads, and how
Work in Roads centers on agriculture & forestry and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Roads
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Roads.
What the weather is like in Roads, month by month
Roads sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 68° | 54° | 44° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 70° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Roads
Kansas City International sits about 55 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 Roads
Schools across Roads average a C+, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Braymer Elem.B · 48% proficient
- Carrollton Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Norborne Elem.D+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Braymer HighB− · 45% proficient
- Carrollton Senior HighC · 32% proficient
- Tina-avalon HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Roads school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Roads 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 Roads against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Roads
Is Roads a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Roads ranks 37,065th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a stable housing market, and health care access, and lowest on cell coverage and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Roads expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $137,985. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $74,925 median income, cost of living beats 67% of towns.
Is Roads safe?
Roads is safer than 19% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $560 per resident a year.
Compare Roads with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Roads. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Roads 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.
Roads detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Roads: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Roads: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Roads: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Roads: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Roads 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.