Best PlacesWellston, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wellston, 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.
Wellston ranks 49,839th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wellston
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.
Wellston's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wellston ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- Short commute20.5 minutes each way, better than 86% of towns
Where Wellston ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wellston
A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wellston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,917, 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 Wellston's effective rate of 2.24%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wellston
Wellston runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Wellston.
Who works in Wellston, and how
Work in Wellston centers on health care & social and wholesale trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 17%
Life in Wellston
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wellston.
What the weather is like in Wellston, month by month
Wellston sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 72° | 58° | 46° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 71° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Wellston
St Louis Lambert International sits about 7 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.5 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Wellston
Schools across Wellston average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pershing Elem.D− · 12% proficient
- Laclede Elem.F · 6% proficient
- Barack Obama Elementary SchoolF · 5% proficient
Top middle schools
- Brittany WoodsD− · 14% proficient
- Acad Of Entre Stdy@louvertureF · 5% proficient
Top high schools
- University City Sr. HighD · 23% proficient
- Normandy HighF · 7% proficient
- Carnahan Sch. Of The FutureF · 5% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wellston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wellston 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 Wellston against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wellston
Is Wellston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wellston ranks 49,839th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, transit, and biking, and lowest on crime and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wellston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $86,828. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $55,917 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Wellston safe?
Wellston is safer than 0% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,752 per resident a year.
Compare Wellston with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wellston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wellston 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.
Wellston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wellston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wellston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wellston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wellston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wellston 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.