Best PlacesSumach, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sumach, 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.
Sumach ranks 46,531st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sumach
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.
Sumach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sumach ranks high
- Cheap childcare$360 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 86% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 61% of towns
Where Sumach ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 6% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sumach
A household needs to earn about $25,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sumach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $49,383, 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 Sumach's effective rate of 0.91%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sumach
Sumach runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sumach.
Who works in Sumach, and how
Work in Sumach centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 97%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Sumach
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sumach.
What the weather is like in Sumach, month by month
Sumach sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 39° | 32° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 52° |
| July | 92° | 82° | 73° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Sumach
The nearest airport, Cape Girardeau Regional, is about 64 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 92 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sumach
Schools across Sumach average a D+, better than 14% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Holcomb Elem.C− · 27% proficient
- Clarkton Elem.F · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- Holcomb HighD · 23% proficient
- Clarkton HighF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sumach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sumach 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 Sumach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sumach
Is Sumach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sumach ranks 46,531st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a stable housing market, and clean air, and lowest on tree cover and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sumach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $93,469. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $49,383 median income, cost of living beats 16% of towns.
Is Sumach safe?
Sumach is safer than 51% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $356 per resident a year.
Compare Sumach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sumach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sumach 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.
Sumach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sumach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sumach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sumach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sumach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sumach 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.