Best PlacesSaco, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Saco, 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.
Saco ranks 49,707th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Saco
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.
Saco's strengths and weaknesses
Where Saco ranks high
- Cheap childcare$411 a month, better than 98% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 81% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 61% of towns
Where Saco ranks low
- Short commute51.3 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 55 pleasant days a year, better than only 3% of towns
- Household income$40,255 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Saco
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Saco home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $40,255; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Saco's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 Saco
Saco 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 Saco.
Who works in Saco, and how
Work in Saco centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Saco
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Saco.
What the weather is like in Saco, month by month
Saco sees roughly 55 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 25° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Saco
The nearest airport, Cape Girardeau Regional, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 94 miles away.
The best schools in and around Saco
Schools across Saco average a C, better than 33% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fredericktown IntermediateB− · 42% proficient
- Clearwater ElementaryC · 35% proficient
- Marquand Elem.C− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kelly A Burlison Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Clearwater MiddleD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Clearwater HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Fredericktown HighC+ · 35% proficient
- Marquand-zion HighD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Saco school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Saco 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 Saco against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Saco
Is Saco a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Saco ranks 49,707th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, tree cover, and civic engagement, and lowest on long commutes and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Saco expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $161,300. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $40,255 median income, cost of living beats 8% of towns.
Is Saco safe?
Saco is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $595 per resident a year.
Compare Saco with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Saco. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Saco 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.
Saco detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Saco: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Saco: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Saco: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Saco: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Saco 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.