Best PlacesStrain, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Strain, 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.
Strain ranks 32,907th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Strain
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.
Strain's strengths and weaknesses
Where Strain ranks high
- Cheap childcare$496 a month, better than 93% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
- School gradeB, better than 71% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 66% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 66% of towns
Where Strain ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Short commute32.7 minutes each way, better than only 21% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Strain
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Strain home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,487, 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 Strain'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 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 Strain
Strain 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 Strain.
Who works in Strain, and how
Work in Strain centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Strain
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Strain.
What the weather is like in Strain, month by month
Strain sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 32° | 25° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Strain
St Louis Lambert International sits about 58 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.5 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Strain
Schools across Strain average a B, better than 71% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Spring Bluff Elem.A · 67% proficient
- Strain-japan Elem.A · 63% proficient
- Gerald Elem.B · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Owensville MiddleB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Sullivan Sr. HighB · 48% proficient
- Owensville HighC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Strain school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Strain 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 Strain against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Strain
Is Strain a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Strain ranks 32,907th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, state finances, and good schools, and lowest on cell coverage and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Strain expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $202,030. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $63,487 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Strain safe?
Strain is safer than 43% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $393 per resident a year.
Compare Strain with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Strain. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Strain 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.
Strain detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Strain: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Strain: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Strain: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Strain: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Strain 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.