Best PlacesShelbina, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shelbina, 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.
Shelbina ranks 42,178th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Shelbina
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.
Shelbina's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shelbina ranks high
- Cheap childcare$391 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute19.2 minutes each way, better than 90% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 86% of towns
- BikingBetter than 77% of towns
Where Shelbina ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 12% of towns
- Household income$54,791 median, better than only 19% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shelbina
A household needs to earn about $30,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shelbina home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,791, 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 Shelbina's effective rate of 0.87%, 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 Shelbina
Shelbina runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Shelbina.
Who works in Shelbina, and how
Work in Shelbina centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Shelbina
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shelbina.
What the weather is like in Shelbina, month by month
Shelbina sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 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° | 45° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 69° | 58° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Shelbina
The nearest airport, Kirksville Regional, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 110 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shelbina
Schools across Shelbina average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Monroe City Elem.B · 50% proficient
- South Shelby ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Paris Elem.C · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Monroe City MiddleB · 45% proficient
- South Shelby Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Paris Jr. HighD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Monroe City R-i HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Paris HighC+ · 37% proficient
- South Shelby HighD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shelbina school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shelbina 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 Shelbina against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shelbina
Is Shelbina a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shelbina ranks 42,178th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, civic engagement, and short commutes, and lowest on noise and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shelbina expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $113,127. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $54,791 median income, cost of living beats 33% of towns.
Is Shelbina safe?
Shelbina is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $667 per resident a year.
Compare Shelbina with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shelbina. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shelbina 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.
Shelbina detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shelbina: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shelbina: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shelbina: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shelbina: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shelbina 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.