Best PlacesTaney County, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Taney County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Taney County ranks 2,325th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Taney 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 Taney County
The parts of Taney 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.
Branson
More households have young kids, fewer homes sit empty, and prices have run up less.
Forsyth
Tree cover is thicker and it is quieter.
Merriam Woods
Schools score higher.
Hollister
Homes cost less, though crime runs higher.
Scores across Taney County run from about the 6th to the 55th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Taney County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Taney County ranks high
- Cheap childcare$414 a month, better than 98% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 76% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 74% of counties
- School gradeB−, better than 66% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 65% of counties
Where Taney County ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 14% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 20% of counties
- Household income$57,616 median, better than only 20% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 21% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 24% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Taney County
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Taney County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $57,616; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Taney County's effective rate of 0.55%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Taney County
Taney County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Taney County.
Who works in Taney County, and how
Work in Taney County centers on retail trade and hospitality & food. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Taney County
Taney County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Taney County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Taney County growing, and who is moving in?
Taney County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Springfield, MO.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Taney County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Taney County, month by month
Taney County sees roughly 77 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° | 36° | 28° |
| April | 69° | 58° | 48° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 60° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Taney County
The nearest airport, Branson, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 200 miles away.
The best schools in and around Taney County
Schools across Taney County average a B−, better than 66% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Mark Twain Elem.A · 65% proficient
- Buchanan ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Cedar Ridge ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Buchanan IntermediateB+ · 50% proficient
- Forsyth MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
- Branson Jr. HighB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Branson HighB− · 45% proficient
- Forsyth HighB− · 43% proficient
- Hollister HighB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Taney County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Taney 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 Taney County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Taney County suits
Common questions about living in Taney County
Is Taney County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Taney County ranks 2,325th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on affordable childcare, tree cover, and low property taxes, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Taney County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $238,281. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $57,616 median income, cost of living beats 14% of counties.
Is Taney County safe?
Taney County is safer than 54% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $424 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Taney County?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 45 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 Taney County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Branson, Forsyth, and Merriam Woods. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Taney County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Taney County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Taney 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.
Taney County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Taney County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Taney County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Taney County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Taney County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Taney 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.