Best PlacesWilderness, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wilderness, 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.
Wilderness ranks 42,998th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wilderness
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.
Wilderness' strengths and weaknesses
Where Wilderness ranks high
- Cheap childcare$341 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 98% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of towns
- QuietBetter than 82% of towns
Where Wilderness ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 2% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wilderness
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wilderness home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,534, 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 Wilderness' effective rate of 0.47%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Wilderness
Wilderness runs older than the country, 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 Wilderness.
Who works in Wilderness, and how
Work in Wilderness centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Wilderness
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wilderness.
What the weather is like in Wilderness, month by month
Wilderness sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 70° | 57° | 47° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Wilderness
The nearest airport, Waynesville-St Robert Regional Forney Field, is about 85 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 138 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wilderness
Schools across Wilderness average a C−, better than 20% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Van Buren Elem.C · 35% proficient
- Alton ElementaryC · 32% proficient
- Ripley Co. Elem.D · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Doniphan HighB− · 42% proficient
- Van Buren HighD+ · 25% proficient
- Alton HighD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wilderness school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wilderness 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 Wilderness against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wilderness
Is Wilderness a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wilderness ranks 42,998th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a strong job market, and tree cover, and lowest on cell coverage and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wilderness expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $217,928. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $64,534 median income, cost of living beats 45% of towns.
Is Wilderness safe?
Wilderness is safer than 7% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $740 per resident a year.
Compare Wilderness with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wilderness. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wilderness 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.
Wilderness detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wilderness: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wilderness: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wilderness: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wilderness: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wilderness 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.