Best PlacesSpanish Lake, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Spanish Lake, 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.
Spanish Lake ranks 48,396th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Spanish Lake
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.
Spanish Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Spanish Lake ranks high
- TransitBetter than 96% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 87% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 82% of towns
Where Spanish Lake ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Spanish Lake
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Spanish Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,224, 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 Spanish Lake's effective rate of 1.53%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Spanish Lake
Spanish Lake runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Spanish Lake.
Who works in Spanish Lake, and how
Work in Spanish Lake centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Spanish Lake
Spanish Lake has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns and more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Spanish Lake and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Spanish Lake, month by month
Spanish Lake sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 72° | 58° | 46° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 71° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Spanish Lake
St Louis Lambert International sits about 9 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.5 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Spanish Lake
Schools across Spanish Lake average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Jamestown Elem.C− · 26% proficient
- Larimore Elem.F · 8% proficient
- Twillman Elem.F · 7% proficient
Top middle schools
- East MiddleD− · 15% proficient
- Central MiddleD− · 14% proficient
- Southeast MiddleF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Hazelwood Central HighD · 20% proficient
- Hazelwood East HighD− · 13% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Spanish Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Spanish Lake 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 Spanish Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Spanish Lake
Is Spanish Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Spanish Lake ranks 48,396th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, biking, and cell coverage, and lowest on crime and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Spanish Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $142,975. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $56,224 median income, cost of living beats 36% of towns.
Is Spanish Lake safe?
Spanish Lake is safer than 1% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,194 per resident a year.
Compare Spanish Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Spanish Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Spanish Lake 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.
Spanish Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Spanish Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Spanish Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Spanish Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Spanish Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Spanish Lake 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.