Best PlacesShell Knob, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shell Knob, 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.
Shell Knob ranks 39,316th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Shell Knob
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.
Shell Knob's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shell Knob ranks high
- Cheap childcare$425 a month, better than 98% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 79% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 77% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 77% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
Where Shell Knob ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shell Knob
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shell Knob home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $58,758, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Shell Knob's effective rate of 0.50%, 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 Shell Knob
Shell Knob 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 Shell Knob.
Who works in Shell Knob, and how
Work in Shell Knob centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Shell Knob
Shell Knob has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Shell Knob and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Shell Knob, month by month
Shell Knob sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 36° | 28° |
| April | 70° | 58° | 49° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 71° | 60° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Shell Knob
The nearest airport, Branson, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 197 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shell Knob
Schools across Shell Knob average a C+, better than 51% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cassville IntermediateB · 47% proficient
- Blue Eye Elem.B− · 40% proficient
- Shell Knob Elem.C+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Blue Eye MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
- Reeds Spring IntermediateC+ · 37% proficient
- Cassville MiddleC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Blue Eye HighB · 47% proficient
- Cassville HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Reeds Spring HighC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shell Knob school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shell Knob 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 Shell Knob against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shell Knob
Is Shell Knob a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shell Knob ranks 39,316th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, tree cover, and health care access, and lowest on empty homes and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shell Knob expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $293,096. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $58,758 median income, cost of living beats 26% of towns.
Is Shell Knob safe?
Shell Knob is safer than 32% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $437 per resident a year.
Compare Shell Knob with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shell Knob. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shell Knob 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.
Shell Knob detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shell Knob: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shell Knob: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shell Knob: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shell Knob: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shell Knob 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.