Best PlacesStark, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Stark, 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.
Stark ranks 40,935th 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 Stark
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.
Stark's strengths and weaknesses
Where Stark ranks high
- Cheap childcare$408 a month, better than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 87% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 77% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 69% of towns
Where Stark ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 51 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 11% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Stark
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stark home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,313, 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 Stark's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 Stark
Stark 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 Stark.
Who works in Stark, and how
Work in Stark centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 98%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Stark
Stark has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Stark and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Stark, month by month
Stark sees roughly 51 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 29° | 23° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 45° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Stark
The nearest airport, Quincy Regional-Baldwin Field, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 56 miles away.
The best schools in and around Stark
Schools across Stark average a C+, better than 51% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Boncl Elem.A− · 60% proficient
- Bowling Green Elem.B · 47% proficient
- Clopton Elem.C+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bowling Green MiddleB− · 41% proficient
- Louisiana MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Bowling Green HighC · 31% proficient
- Clopton HighC− · 27% proficient
- Louisiana HighD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stark school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stark 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 Stark against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Stark
Is Stark a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stark ranks 40,935th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, few empty homes, and a stable housing market, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Stark expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $166,700. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $65,313 median income, cost of living beats 56% of towns.
Is Stark safe?
Stark is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $432 per resident a year.
Compare Stark with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stark. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stark 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.
Stark detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stark: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stark: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stark: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stark: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stark 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.