Best PlacesStella, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Stella, 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.
Stella ranks 40,511th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Stella
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.
Stella's strengths and weaknesses
Where Stella ranks high
- Cheap childcare$398 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 81% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 74% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 66% of towns
Where Stella ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 14% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 14% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 15% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 17% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Stella
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stella home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,165, 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 Stella'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 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 Stella
Stella runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Stella.
Who works in Stella, and how
Work in Stella centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Stella
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Stella.
What the weather is like in Stella, month by month
Stella sees roughly 64 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 Stella
The nearest airport, Northwest Arkansas Ntl, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 180 miles away.
The best schools in and around Stella
Schools across Stella average a B−, better than 56% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rocky Comfort Elem.A− · 58% proficient
- Goodman Elem.B− · 43% proficient
- TriwayC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Neosho Jr. HighB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- East Newton HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Mcdonald County HighC · 32% proficient
- Neosho HighC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stella school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stella 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 Stella against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Stella
Is Stella a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stella ranks 40,511th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, low property taxes, and civic engagement, and lowest on health outcomes and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Stella expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $200,403. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $54,165 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Stella safe?
Stella is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $467 per resident a year.
Compare Stella with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stella. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stella 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.
Stella detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stella: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stella: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stella: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stella: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stella 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.