Best PlacesWalnut, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Walnut, 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.
Walnut ranks 39,747th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Walnut
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.
Walnut's strengths and weaknesses
Where Walnut ranks high
- Cheap childcare$467 a month, better than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of towns
- Short commute22.6 minutes each way, better than 77% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 104 pleasant days a year, better than 71% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 58% of towns
Where Walnut ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 7% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 11% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Walnut
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Walnut home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,217, 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 Walnut's effective rate of 1.13%, 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 Walnut
Walnut runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Walnut.
Who works in Walnut, and how
Work in Walnut centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Walnut
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Walnut.
What the weather is like in Walnut, month by month
Walnut sees roughly 104 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 34° | 26° |
| April | 70° | 58° | 48° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Walnut
The nearest airport, Joplin Regional, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 117 miles away.
The best schools in and around Walnut
Schools across Walnut average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- St. Paul Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- West Bourbon ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- R V Haderlein ElemB+ · 51% proficient
Top middle schools
- St. Paul Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Girard MiddleC · 31% proficient
- Galesburg Middle SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- Girard HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Erie High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- St. Paul High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Walnut school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Walnut 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 Walnut against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Walnut
Is Walnut a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Walnut ranks 39,747th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, state infrastructure, and short commutes, and lowest on noise and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Walnut expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $163,163. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $63,217 median income, cost of living beats 45% of towns.
Is Walnut safe?
Walnut is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $319 per resident a year.
Compare Walnut with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Walnut. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Walnut 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.
Walnut detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Walnut: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Walnut: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Walnut: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Walnut: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Walnut 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.