Best PlacesSundown, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sundown, 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.
Sundown ranks 45,941st 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 Sundown
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.
Sundown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sundown ranks high
- Cheap childcare$326 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 77% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
- QuietBetter than 70% of towns
Where Sundown ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$42,436 median, better than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sundown
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sundown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $42,436, 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 Sundown's effective rate of 0.42%, 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 Sundown
Sundown 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 Sundown.
Who works in Sundown, and how
Work in Sundown centers on other services and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Sundown
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sundown.
What the weather is like in Sundown, month by month
Sundown sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 37° | 29° |
| April | 71° | 59° | 48° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 73° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Sundown
The nearest airport, Branson, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 182 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sundown
Schools across Sundown average a C+, better than 47% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Thornfield Elem.A− · 58% proficient
- Gainesville Elem.B · 48% proficient
- Lutie Elem.D · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Gainesville HighB− · 45% proficient
- Lutie HighC · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sundown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sundown 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 Sundown against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sundown
Is Sundown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sundown ranks 45,941st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, low property taxes, and tree cover, and lowest on health outcomes and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sundown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $154,917. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $42,436 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Sundown safe?
Yes, Sundown is safer than 65% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $306 per resident a year.
Compare Sundown with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sundown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sundown 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.
Sundown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sundown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sundown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sundown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sundown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sundown 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.