Best PlacesStone County, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Stone County, 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.
Stone County ranks 2,457th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Stone County
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.
The best areas in Stone County
The parts of Stone County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Reeds Spring
Fewer homes sit empty.
Crane
More households have young kids and heat risk is lower.
Kimberling City
More residents vote and tree cover is thicker.
Scores across Stone County run from about the 7th to the 48th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Stone County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Stone County ranks high
- Cheap childcare$435 a month, better than 98% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 87% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 83% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 80% of counties
Where Stone County ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 6% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 9% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 17% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Stone County
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stone County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,852, 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 Stone County's effective rate of 0.45%, 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 Stone County
Stone County 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 Stone County.
Who works in Stone County, and how
Work in Stone County centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Stone County
Stone County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Stone County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Stone County growing, and who is moving in?
Stone County has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Springfield, MO.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Stone County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Stone County, month by month
Stone County sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 46, 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 | 46° | 36° | 28° |
| April | 70° | 58° | 49° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 71° | 60° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Stone County
The nearest airport, Branson, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 191 miles away.
The best schools in and around Stone County
Schools across Stone County average a C+, better than 44% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- John Thomas School Of DiscoverA+ · 73% proficient
- Marionville ElemB+ · 52% proficient
- Highlandville Elem.B− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Nicholas A. Inman IntermediateA · 61% proficient
- Marionville MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Hollister MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Nixa HighA · 70% proficient
- Marionville HighB · 50% proficient
- Blue Eye HighB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stone County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stone County 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 Stone County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Stone County suits
Common questions about living in Stone County
Is Stone County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stone County ranks 2,457th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on affordable childcare, low property taxes, and health care access, and lowest on internet speeds and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Stone County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $250,843. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $62,852 median income, cost of living beats 30% of counties.
Is Stone County safe?
Stone County is safer than 55% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $389 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Stone County?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 46 with lows near 28. That works out to about 77 pleasant days a year, more than 33% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Stone County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Reeds Spring, Crane, and Kimberling City. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Stone County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stone County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stone County 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.
Stone County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stone County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stone County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stone County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stone County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stone County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.