QoL Rank
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Missouri

Missouri has a quality of life score of 47/100 (C, average) and ranks #28 of 51 states. Its strongest category is cost of living (72) and its weakest is safety (24). Its top-rated larger counties are St. Charles County, Livingston County, Clay County.

  • Safety: 24
  • Cost of living: 72
  • Education: 50
  • Quality of life: 43

Key figures: violent crime 442.3 per 100,000 people a year (US 345.2); median rent $1,033 a month; median home value $230,300; median household income $68,484; life expectancy 75.2 years.

Counties in Missouri, best first

  1. St. Charles County 69
  2. Livingston County 68
  3. Clay County 67
  4. Christian County 66
  5. Andrew County 66
  6. Putnam County 65
  7. Osage County 64
  8. Callaway County 64
  9. Platte County 64
  10. Macon County 62
  11. Mercer County 62
  12. Lewis County 61
  13. Marion County 60
  14. Cole County 60
  15. Chariton County 60
  16. Holt County 60
  17. Johnson County 60
  18. Ste. Genevieve County 60
  19. Cass County 60
  20. Pettis County 60
  21. Clinton County 59
  22. Pulaski County 59
  23. Linn County 58
  24. Shelby County 58
  25. Pike County 58
  26. Ralls County 57
  27. Miller County 57
  28. Lafayette County 56
  29. Boone County 56
  30. Nodaway County 56
  31. Saline County 56
  32. Cooper County 56
  33. Knox County 56
  34. Jefferson County 55
  35. Phelps County 55
  36. Scotland County 55
  37. Franklin County 55
  38. Caldwell County 54
  39. Moniteau County 54
  40. Adair County 54
  41. DeKalb County 54
  42. Gasconade County 54
  43. Grundy County 54
  44. Maries County 54
  45. Monroe County 54
  46. Stoddard County 53
  47. Gentry County 53
  48. Webster County 53
  49. Taney County 53
  50. Greene County 53
  51. Audrain County 53
  52. Cape Girardeau County 53
  53. Perry County 52
  54. Newton County 52
  55. Lincoln County 52
  56. Worth County 52
  57. Carroll County 51
  58. Atchison County 51
  59. Wright County 51
  60. Dent County 51
  61. Warren County 51
  62. Randolph County 50
  63. Clark County 50
  64. St. Francois County 49
  65. Scott County 49
  66. Camden County 49
  67. Schuyler County 49
  68. Laclede County 48
  69. St. Louis County 48
  70. Lawrence County 48
  71. Washington County 48
  72. Douglas County 48
  73. Montgomery County 48
  74. Harrison County 47
  75. Jasper County 47
  76. Howard County 47
  77. Stone County 46
  78. Shannon County 46
  79. Barton County 46
  80. Madison County 46
  81. Butler County 45
  82. Daviess County 45
  83. Ray County 45
  84. Bollinger County 45
  85. Crawford County 45
  86. Hickory County 45
  87. Dade County 44
  88. Vernon County 44
  89. Cedar County 44
  90. New Madrid County 44
  91. Reynolds County 43
  92. Iron County 43
  93. Sullivan County 42
  94. Polk County 42
  95. Jackson County 42
  96. Henry County 42
  97. Texas County 41
  98. Howell County 41
  99. Bates County 40
  100. Buchanan County 40
  101. Dunklin County 40
  102. Ozark County 40
  103. Barry County 40
  104. Dallas County 40
  105. Benton County 40
  106. St. Clair County 39
  107. McDonald County 38
  108. Morgan County 37
  109. Carter County 37
  110. Wayne County 36
  111. Mississippi County 34
  112. Ripley County 34
  113. Oregon County 31
  114. St. Louis city 27
  115. Pemiscot County 26

Your priorities

Choose how much each category counts toward the overall score. The map, rankings and every place’s overall score update as you go.

About the data

Every county is compared with every other US county, and every state with the other states.

Each measure becomes a percentile from 0 to 100, where 100 is always best. For crime, deaths, disaster risk, costs and commutes, the lowest value is best. A category score averages its measures’ percentiles and is then scaled so all four categories have the same spread around 50, so each counts equally. The overall score is the average of the four. 50 is a typical place, and most land between 35 and 65. Your priorities lets you weight the categories differently.

Grades: A 65 and up, B 55–64, C 45–54, D 35–44, F under 35.

Each category lists a county’s own figures next to its state’s and the US figures. Under the state and US columns, Difference shows whether the county is higher or lower, as a share of that figure (hover for the exact gap). Rank shows where it ranks instead: “ranked 75%” means it does better than 75% of the counties in its state, or in the US. A green arrow or dot means the county does better, red means worse.

Compare puts any two places side by side, counties or states, in any state. The better value in each row is highlighted.

A county gets an overall score only if all four categories have data and at least 60% of the measures are present. Small counties often have suppressed data, and without this rule they rank at the top on just a few numbers. Top 10 lists only include counties with at least 10,000 people.

What’s measured

Limitations

Sources