Best PlacesSaline County, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Saline County, 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.
Saline County ranks 2,183rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Saline County
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.
The best areas in Saline County
The parts of Saline County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Sweet Springs
More residents vote, local pay stretches further, and more households have young kids.
Marshall
Fewer homes sit empty.
Slater
Prices have run up less, though health outcomes score lower.
Scores across Saline County run from about the 6th to the 54th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Saline County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Saline County ranks high
- Cheap childcare$419 a month, better than 98% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of counties
- Short commute17.5 minutes each way, better than 89% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 67% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 65% of counties
Where Saline County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 8% of counties
- School gradeD+, better than only 13% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 14% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 16% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 25% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Saline County
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Saline County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,578, 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 Saline County's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Saline County
Saline County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Saline County.
Who works in Saline County, and how
Work in Saline County 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 89%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Saline County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Saline County.
Is Saline County growing, and who is moving in?
Saline County has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Columbia, MO.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Saline County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Saline County, month by month
Saline County sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 30° | 24° |
| April | 67° | 55° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Saline County
The nearest airport, Columbia Regional, is about 57 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 82 miles away.
The best schools in and around Saline County
Schools across Saline County average a D+, better than 13% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Sweet Springs Elem.B · 48% proficient
- Hardeman Elem.B− · 42% proficient
- Blackwater Elem.C+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bueker MiddleD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Northwest HighB− · 43% proficient
- Malta Bend High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Santa Fe HighC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Saline County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Saline County 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 Saline County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Saline County suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Saline County
Is Saline County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Saline County ranks 2,183rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on affordable childcare, low disaster risk, and short commutes, and lowest on noise and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Saline County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $151,022. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $61,578 median income, cost of living beats 32% of counties.
Is Saline County safe?
Saline County is safer than 40% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $431 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Saline County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 39 with lows near 24. That works out to about 80 pleasant days a year, more than 38% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Saline County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Sweet Springs, Marshall, and Slater. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Saline County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Saline County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Saline County 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.
Saline County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Saline County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Saline County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Saline County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Saline County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Saline County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.