Best PlacesYale, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Yale, 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.
Yale ranks 22,913th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Yale
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.
Yale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Yale ranks high
- Cheap childcare$467 a month, better than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 91% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 87% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 87% of towns
Where Yale ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 19% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 21% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Yale
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Yale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $91,721, 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 Yale's effective rate of 0.98%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Yale
Yale 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 Yale.
Who works in Yale, and how
Work in Yale centers on education and public administration. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Yale
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Yale.
What the weather is like in Yale, month by month
Yale sees roughly 100 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 33° | 25° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 73° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Yale
The nearest airport, Joplin Regional, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 127 miles away.
The best schools in and around Yale
Schools across Yale average a C, better than 39% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Frank Layden ElemB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Frontenac Jr. HighD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Frontenac Sr. High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Yale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Yale 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 Yale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Yale
Is Yale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Yale ranks 22,913th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, state infrastructure, and what local pay buys, and lowest on a weak job market and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Yale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $169,956. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $91,721 median income, cost of living beats 91% of towns.
Is Yale safe?
Yale is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $357 per resident a year.
Compare Yale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Yale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Yale 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.
Yale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Yale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Yale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Yale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Yale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Yale 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.