Best PlacesWare, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ware, 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.
Ware ranks 41,266th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ware
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.
Ware's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ware ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 82% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where Ware ranks low
- School gradeD−, better than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ware
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ware home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,058, 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 Ware's effective rate of 1.03%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Ware
Ware runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ware.
Who works in Ware, and how
Work in Ware centers on health care & social and other services. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Ware
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ware.
What the weather is like in Ware, month by month
Ware sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 36° | 28° |
| April | 70° | 58° | 48° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 74° | 60° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Ware
The nearest airport, Cape Girardeau Regional, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 105 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ware
Schools across Ware average a D−, better than 3% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Shawnee Elementary SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top middle schools
- Shawnee Jr High SchoolF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Shawnee High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ware school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ware 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 Ware against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ware
Is Ware a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ware ranks 41,266th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, a stable housing market, and civic engagement, and lowest on the schools and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ware expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $119,811. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $70,058 median income, cost of living beats 47% of towns.
Is Ware safe?
Ware is safer than 42% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $296 per resident a year.
Compare Ware with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ware. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ware 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.
Ware detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ware: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ware: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ware: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ware: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ware 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.