Best PlacesSt. James, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. James, 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.
St. James ranks 32,847th 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 St. James
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.
St. James' strengths and weaknesses
Where St. James ranks high
- Cheap childcare$407 a month, better than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 89% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 87% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 81% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 76% of towns
Where St. James ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 9% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 25% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in St. James
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. James home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,845, 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 St. James' effective rate of 0.67%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in St. James
St. James runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for St. James.
Who works in St. James, and how
Work in St. James centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in St. James
St. James has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of St. James and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in St. James, month by month
St. James sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 42, 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 | 42° | 32° | 24° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of St. James
The nearest airport, Waynesville-St Robert Regional Forney Field, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 85 miles away.
The best schools in and around St. James
Schools across St. James average a B, better than 65% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cuba Elem.A− · 58% proficient
- Mark Twain Elem.B+ · 55% proficient
- Lucy Wortham James Elem.B+ · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cuba MiddleB · 46% proficient
- Rolla MiddleB− · 41% proficient
- St. James MiddleC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- St. James HighB · 50% proficient
- Rolla Sr. HighB− · 43% proficient
- Cuba HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. James school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. James 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 St. James against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in St. James
Is St. James a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. James ranks 32,847th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, biking, and fast internet, and lowest on noise and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is St. James expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $192,785. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $64,845 median income, cost of living beats 38% of towns.
Is St. James safe?
St. James is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $497 per resident a year.
Compare St. James with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. James. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. James 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.
St. James detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. James: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. James: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. James: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. James: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. James 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.