Best PlacesStar City, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Star City, 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.
Star City ranks 40,044th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Star City
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.
Star City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Star City ranks high
- Cheap childcare$420 a month, better than 98% of towns
- Short commute21.0 minutes each way, better than 84% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 81% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 66% of towns
Where Star City ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 9% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 19% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Star City
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Star City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,104, 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 Star City's effective rate of 0.47%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Star City
Star City runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Star City.
Who works in Star City, and how
Work in Star City centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Star City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Star City.
What the weather is like in Star City, month by month
Star City sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 45, 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 | 45° | 35° | 28° |
| April | 68° | 56° | 47° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Star City
The nearest airport, Branson, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 182 miles away.
The best schools in and around Star City
Schools across Star City average a D+, better than 19% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cassville IntermediateB · 47% proficient
- Purdy Elem.D+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cassville MiddleC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Cassville HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Purdy HighD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Star City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Star City 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 Star City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Star City
Is Star City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Star City ranks 40,044th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, short commutes, and low property taxes, and lowest on the weather and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Star City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $155,859. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $62,104 median income, cost of living beats 39% of towns.
Is Star City safe?
Star City is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $353 per resident a year.
Compare Star City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Star City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Star City 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.
Star City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Star City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Star City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Star City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Star City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Star City 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.