Best PlacesRutledge, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rutledge, 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.
Rutledge ranks 36,162nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rutledge
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.
Rutledge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rutledge ranks high
- Cheap childcare$407 a month, better than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$113,570 median, better than 91% of towns
- Short commute19.7 minutes each way, better than 89% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
Where Rutledge ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rutledge
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rutledge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $113,570, 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 Rutledge's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 Rutledge
Rutledge runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rutledge.
Who works in Rutledge, and how
Work in Rutledge centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Rutledge
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rutledge.
What the weather is like in Rutledge, month by month
Rutledge sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 65° | 52° | 41° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 68° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Rutledge
The nearest airport, Kirksville Regional, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 139 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rutledge
Schools across Rutledge average a C, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Highland Elem.C+ · 37% proficient
- Knox Co. Elem.C+ · 37% proficient
- Scotland Co. Elem.C− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clark Co. MiddleD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Scotland Co. HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Knox Co. HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Clark Co. HighC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rutledge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rutledge 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 Rutledge against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rutledge
Is Rutledge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rutledge ranks 36,162nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, what local pay buys, and high incomes, and lowest on education levels and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rutledge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $222,834. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $113,570 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Rutledge safe?
Rutledge is safer than 7% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $748 per resident a year.
Compare Rutledge with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rutledge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rutledge 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.
Rutledge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rutledge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rutledge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rutledge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rutledge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rutledge 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.