Best PlacesWebster County, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Webster County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Webster County ranks 2,001st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Webster 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 Webster County
The parts of Webster 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.
Marshfield
Streets are more walkable.
Rogersville
More households have young kids and more adults hold degrees.
Seymour
Local pay stretches less far and incomes run lower.
Scores across Webster County run from about the 10th to the 58th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Webster County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Webster County ranks high
- Cheap childcare$470 a month, better than 94% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 85% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 81% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 80% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 68% of counties
Where Webster County ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 9% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 19% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 24% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 24% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Webster County
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Webster County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,219, 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 Webster County's effective rate of 0.50%, 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 Webster County
Webster County runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Webster County.
Who works in Webster County, and how
Work in Webster County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Webster County
Webster County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Webster County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Webster County growing, and who is moving in?
Webster County has grown about 14% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Springfield, MO metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Webster County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Webster County, month by month
Webster County sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 34° | 23° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 92° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 74° | 59° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Webster County
The nearest airport, Springfield-Branson Ntl, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 171 miles away.
The best schools in and around Webster County
Schools across Webster County average a C+, better than 44% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Strafford Elem.B+ · 55% proficient
- Ezard Elem.B+ · 53% proficient
- Fair Grove Elem.B · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Logan-rogersville Upper Elem.A− · 54% proficient
- Fair Grove MiddleB · 47% proficient
- Strafford MiddleB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Strafford HighB · 48% proficient
- Fair Grove HighB− · 45% proficient
- Fordland HighB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Webster County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Webster 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 Webster County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Webster County suits
Families
Schools land around the 44th percentile and crime safety beats 81%.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Webster County
Is Webster County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Webster County ranks 2,001st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a strong job market, and low crime, and lowest on internet speeds and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Webster County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $229,813. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $71,219 median income, cost of living beats 62% of counties.
Is Webster County safe?
Yes, Webster County is safer than 81% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $306 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Webster County?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 23. That works out to about 65 pleasant days a year, more than 13% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Webster County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Marshfield, Rogersville, and Seymour. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Webster County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Webster County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Webster 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.
Webster County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Webster County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Webster County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Webster County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Webster County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Webster 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.