You don’t need to be an Ozarks money launderer to enjoy the comforts of living in Missouri – the cost of living in most cities is surprisingly low.
In fact, the cheapest places to live in Missouri are a testament to the Show-Me State’s commitment to affordability.
How did we determine the cheapest places to live in Missouri? Our methodology is simple. We used Saturday Night Science to look at factors like median home price, average income, and overall cost of living. We then compare these factors across all cities in the state to come up with our top ten list of the most affordable places to live in Missouri.
Now sit back with some Kansas City BBQ and join us as we explore the cheapest places to live in Missouri.
$42,813 median income · $720 median rent · #16 home prices in Missouri
Located in
Vernon County, Missouri
Nevada, MO is an affordable place to live in Missouri thanks to a median home value of $160,101 and a median rent of just $720. Additionally, Nevada’s median income of $42,813 is in line with the cost of living, making it easier for families to make ends meet. But affordability isn’t the only thing that makes Nevada a great place to live. The city has a population of 7,925 and is home to Cottey College, a well-regarded women’s college. Its council-manager model of government ensures that public services are well-run and responsive to community needs. All in all, Nevada ranks as one of the most livable and affordable places in Missouri.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$52,500 median income · $651 median rent · #6 home prices in Missouri
Located in
Dunklin County, Missouri
Kennett, Missouri is one of the most affordable places to live in the state. With a median home value of $111,347 and median rent of $651, it’s easy to see why.
the city is located in the southeast corner of Missouri, just 4 miles east of Arkansas and 20 miles from the Mississippi River. With a population of 10,196, Kennett has a small-town feel while still offering plenty of amenities. Plus, with a median income of $52,500, residents can enjoy a comfortable lifestyle without breaking the bank.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$44,265 median income · $1,074 median rent · #3 home prices in Missouri
Located in
St. Louis County, Missouri
Berkeley is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 8,978 at the 2010 census. Portions of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport are within the city limits.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$61,642 median income · $680 median rent · #21 home prices in Missouri
Located in
Macon County, Missouri
Located an hour north of Columbia, Macon clocks in as our fourth least expensive city in Missouri. Macon makes the cut by being an absolute godsend for renters. Macon has the lowest median rent you’ll see on this list, at $680/month. That’s less than half of the average rent in Missouri. And with residents earning a median income of $61,642, Maconites have one of the best rent to income ratios in the state. On the flip side, Macon’s median home price of $175,280 puts Macon as the least affordable place to buy a home on this list.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$48,359 median income · $809 median rent · #47 home prices in Missouri
Located in
Laclede County, Missouri
Lebanon is a city in Laclede County, Missouri, United States. The population was 14,474 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Laclede County. The Lebanon Micropolitan Statistical Area consists of Laclede County.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$38,984 median income · $961 median rent · #1 home prices in Missouri
Located in
St. Louis County, Missouri
Jennings, located in the northern part of St. Louis County, MO, stands out for its affordability due to the Show Me State’s lowest home values at $73,369.
These home prices and reduced living costs make it a budget-friendly bastion. Its overall cost of living is 6.7% lower than the state average, making Jennings a frugal fortress for those planting their stakes in Missouri soil.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$49,390 median income · $902 median rent · #25 home prices in Missouri
Located in
Lawrence County, Missouri
Monett is a city in Monett Township in Barry County and Pierce Township in Lawrence County, Missouri, United States. The population was 8,873 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$51,701 median income · $765 median rent · #17 home prices in Missouri
Located in
Stoddard County, Missouri
Dexter is becoming an increasingly popular destination for families and individuals seeking a high quality of life at an affordable price. With a median home value of just $160,390 and median rent at $765, it’s no wonder why many people choose to call Dexter their home. T Dexter offers plenty of outdoor activities and small-town charm, including parks, local festivals, and unique shops.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$49,848 median income · $823 median rent · #22 home prices in Missouri
Located in
Lawrence County, Missouri
Located 35 miles southwest of Springfield, Aurora rounds out our list of cheapest cities in Missouri. At a median price of $176,041, Aurora has the 22nd least expensive homes in Missouri, and the cheapest you’ll see on this list. Coupled with a median income of $49,848, Aurora has the third best home price to income ratio on this list.
On the flip side, Aurora’s affordability drops off precipitously for renters. In any case, thanks to the Sunset Drive-In Theatre, you’ll never have to worry about a cheap option for date night in Aurora.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$59,556 median income · $722 median rent · #49 home prices in Missouri
Located in
Ray County, Missouri
Richmond comes in as the tenth cheapest city in Missouri thanks to being an equally affordable place for renters and home-buyers. When you’re in Richmond, you’ll know you’re in the state with the lowest rent in America, because the median rent is a mere $722. The median income in Richmond is $59,556 and the median home price is $233,566, making the city one of the least affordable places for buyers on this list. In any case, you’ll never run short of fun things to do for free in Richmond, which has over 60 acres of parks. Not too shabby for a city of only 5,959 people. Richmond is located 40 miles east of Kansas City.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Missouri’s statewide median.
Missouri statewide median: $263,040
Missouri statewide median: $70,702
On the map
Where your money goes furthest in Missouri
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the most affordable places to live in the Show Me State for 2026
Determining affordability for places in Missouri boils down to how much it costs to live here.
You need to understand your costs relative to what people in the rest of the state are paying.
With that logic in mind, we derived several cost of living statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2020-2024 for Missouri using Saturday Night Science. We indexed the cost of living statistics across the following categories:
- Housing
- Transportation
- Services
- Groceries
- Healthcare
- Utilities
These are then weighted together to produce an overall cost of living index where 100 is the United States average. Anything below 100 is relatively affordable. Anything over 100 is relatively expensive.
We applied the biggest weight to housing as it typically accounts for 25% or more of your budget. Additionally, housing costs are the highest variant cost across a state. We then compare these cost of living metrics for each place in Missouri to figure out which is the least expensive.
The “Cost of Living Index” allows you to rank all of the 131 places in Missouri that have more than 5,000 people from least expensive to most expensive. Any ties went to the larger city.
The place in Missouri with the lowest cost of living according to the data is Nevada.
We updated this article for 2026. This report reflects our eleventh time ranking the cheapest places to live in Missouri.
The full plate
Cheapest Places To Live In Missouri
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Cost Of Living Index | Median Income | Home Prices | Rent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nevada | 7,925 | 81 | $42,813 | $160,101 | $720 |
| 2 | Kennett | 10,196 | 82 | $52,500 | $111,347 | $651 |
| 3 | Berkeley | 8,123 | 83 | $44,265 | $97,156 | $1,074 |
| 4 | Macon | 5,466 | 83 | $61,642 | $175,280 | $680 |
| 5 | Lebanon | 15,270 | 84 | $48,359 | $228,788 | $809 |
| 6 | Jennings | 12,918 | 84 | $38,984 | $73,369 | $961 |
| 7 | Monett | 9,873 | 84 | $49,390 | $180,956 | $902 |
| 8 | Dexter | 7,891 | 84 | $51,701 | $160,390 | $765 |
| 9 | Aurora | 7,397 | 84 | $49,848 | $176,041 | $823 |
| 10 | Richmond | 5,959 | 84 | $59,556 | $233,566 | $722 |
| 11 | Carthage | 15,574 | 85 | $51,328 | $234,176 | $975 |
| 12 | West Plains | 12,441 | 85 | $44,002 | $221,521 | $810 |
| 13 | Mexico | 11,477 | 85 | $50,873 | $180,700 | $686 |
| 14 | Bellefontaine Neighbors | 10,498 | 85 | $49,170 | $102,415 | $1,151 |
| 15 | Clinton | 9,065 | 85 | $51,250 | $170,926 | $702 |
| 16 | Park Hills | 8,678 | 85 | $52,563 | $153,552 | $790 |
| 17 | St. John | 6,527 | 85 | $53,755 | $137,116 | $1,159 |
| 18 | Trenton | 5,536 | 85 | $50,015 | $110,674 | $703 |
| 19 | Caruthersville | 5,326 | 85 | $34,652 | $77,792 | $801 |
| 20 | Springfield | 169,954 | 86 | $49,311 | $242,870 | $964 |
| 21 | Hannibal | 16,771 | 86 | $53,721 | $172,131 | $805 |
| 22 | Marshall | 13,739 | 86 | $54,437 | $181,309 | $761 |
| 23 | Neosho | 13,224 | 86 | $57,891 | $227,220 | $745 |
| 24 | Chillicothe | 8,923 | 86 | $54,493 | $185,819 | $782 |
| 25 | Bonne Terre | 6,683 | 86 | $46,179 | $201,861 | $641 |
| 26 | Sullivan | 6,310 | 86 | $63,370 | $203,783 | $919 |
| 27 | Joplin | 52,593 | 87 | $52,097 | $200,472 | $962 |
| 28 | Grandview | 26,527 | 87 | $53,447 | $216,734 | $1,035 |
| 29 | Sedalia | 22,003 | 87 | $50,990 | $182,165 | $877 |
| 30 | Ferguson | 18,213 | 87 | $47,524 | $116,377 | $1,119 |
| 31 | Poplar Bluff | 16,254 | 87 | $41,941 | $170,054 | $760 |
| 32 | Moberly | 13,526 | 87 | $44,145 | $158,147 | $774 |
| 33 | St. Ann | 12,811 | 87 | $52,323 | $157,310 | $976 |
| 34 | De Soto | 6,470 | 87 | $52,500 | $245,845 | $809 |
| 35 | Florissant | 51,773 | 88 | $65,318 | $191,524 | $1,288 |
| 36 | Raytown | 29,445 | 88 | $68,840 | $205,243 | $1,218 |
| 37 | Hazelwood | 25,114 | 88 | $55,908 | $157,629 | $996 |
| 38 | Boonville | 7,689 | 88 | $56,429 | $192,609 | $767 |
| 39 | St. Louis | 288,512 | 89 | $56,160 | $181,928 | $997 |
| 40 | Independence | 121,740 | 89 | $60,339 | $208,158 | $1,109 |
| 41 | Sikeston | 16,320 | 89 | $58,915 | $158,611 | $891 |
| 42 | Overland | 15,695 | 89 | $61,773 | $150,450 | $1,112 |
| 43 | Webb City | 13,221 | 89 | $65,469 | $222,929 | $1,008 |
| 44 | Maryville | 10,428 | 89 | $53,352 | $222,767 | $808 |
| 45 | Marshfield | 7,696 | 89 | $67,642 | $253,421 | $710 |
| 46 | Savannah | 5,053 | 89 | $62,535 | $266,126 | $852 |
| 47 | St. Joseph | 71,236 | 90 | $57,956 | $180,020 | $898 |
| 48 | Rolla | 20,287 | 90 | $46,204 | $237,605 | $789 |
| 49 | Republic | 19,829 | 90 | $65,729 | $268,263 | $1,123 |
| 50 | Kirksville | 17,563 | 90 | $50,071 | $150,865 | $775 |
| 51 | Excelsior Springs | 10,484 | 90 | $72,609 | $223,588 | $975 |
| 52 | Warrenton | 9,066 | 90 | $61,031 | $299,573 | $964 |
| 53 | Black Jack | 6,589 | 90 | $78,331 | $217,916 | $1,166 |
| 54 | Pevely | 6,055 | 90 | $56,000 | $273,663 | $875 |
| 55 | Warrensburg | 19,582 | 91 | $57,067 | $266,468 | $921 |
| 56 | Farmington | 18,282 | 91 | $53,729 | $254,729 | $855 |
| 57 | Union | 12,781 | 91 | $73,435 | $257,223 | $858 |
| 58 | Fulton | 12,617 | 91 | $51,429 | $245,451 | $836 |
| 59 | Bolivar | 11,170 | 91 | $49,622 | $252,896 | $812 |
| 60 | Harrisonville | 9,970 | 91 | $62,473 | $294,225 | $944 |
| 61 | Perryville | 8,536 | 91 | $51,897 | $222,682 | $944 |
| 62 | Cameron | 8,519 | 91 | $61,791 | $243,891 | $1,063 |
| 63 | Pacific | 7,475 | 91 | $62,860 | $245,537 | $906 |
| 64 | Jefferson City | 42,488 | 92 | $66,371 | $272,649 | $802 |
| 65 | Cape Girardeau | 40,344 | 92 | $55,658 | $219,807 | $876 |
| 66 | Odessa | 5,620 | 92 | $100,022 | $256,903 | $1,063 |
| 67 | Arnold | 20,956 | 93 | $78,370 | $273,572 | $1,112 |
| 68 | Festus | 13,201 | 93 | $73,532 | $299,935 | $922 |
| 69 | Oak Grove | 8,538 | 93 | $75,102 | $291,503 | $1,044 |
| 70 | Battlefield | 6,165 | 93 | $94,542 | $303,753 | $1,042 |
| 71 | Ste. Genevieve | 5,010 | 93 | $48,097 | $196,909 | $771 |
| 72 | Gladstone | 27,207 | 94 | $79,271 | $266,727 | $1,088 |
| 73 | Washington | 15,130 | 94 | $79,173 | $306,588 | $827 |
| 74 | Branson | 12,817 | 94 | $51,978 | $248,361 | $961 |
| 75 | Willard | 6,488 | 94 | $84,600 | $272,134 | $984 |
| 76 | Peculiar | 5,958 | 94 | $94,519 | $357,230 | $1,275 |
| 77 | Wright City | 5,240 | 94 | $80,152 | $307,152 | $894 |
| 78 | Belton | 25,008 | 95 | $69,226 | $270,041 | $1,290 |
| 79 | Nixa | 24,836 | 95 | $83,385 | $318,320 | $1,083 |
| 80 | Troy | 13,947 | 95 | $79,012 | $311,433 | $1,033 |
| 81 | Carl Junction | 8,339 | 95 | $82,879 | $250,863 | $1,307 |
| 82 | Maplewood | 8,156 | 95 | $65,125 | $267,091 | $970 |
| 83 | St. Robert | 5,356 | 95 | $62,641 | $231,890 | $1,087 |
| 84 | Ozark | 22,417 | 96 | $74,182 | $316,347 | $1,097 |
| 85 | Jackson | 15,659 | 96 | $77,105 | $271,918 | $900 |
| 86 | Blue Springs | 59,965 | 97 | $88,920 | $307,947 | $1,277 |
| 87 | St. Peters | 59,092 | 97 | $91,637 | $318,220 | $1,321 |
| 88 | Waynesville | 5,442 | 97 | $56,836 | $242,455 | $1,152 |
| 89 | Kansas City | 510,612 | 98 | $69,166 | $250,208 | $1,238 |
| 90 | Maryland Heights | 27,880 | 98 | $86,436 | $258,829 | $1,312 |
| 91 | Liberty | 30,689 | 99 | $88,542 | $324,253 | $1,160 |
| 92 | Grain Valley | 16,271 | 99 | $89,649 | $326,296 | $1,398 |
| 93 | Bridgeton | 11,369 | 99 | $72,005 | $273,069 | $1,172 |
| 94 | Smithville | 10,705 | 99 | $101,165 | $371,403 | $1,323 |
| 95 | Pleasant Hill | 8,847 | 100 | $95,602 | $364,998 | $1,174 |
| 96 | Valley Park | 6,795 | 100 | $67,898 | $295,375 | $1,443 |
| 97 | Columbia | 128,548 | 101 | $66,498 | $321,091 | $1,097 |
| 98 | Shrewsbury | 6,316 | 101 | $80,757 | $285,844 | $1,215 |
| 99 | Lee’s Summit | 103,656 | 102 | $102,531 | $389,364 | $1,422 |
| 100 | St. Charles | 71,508 | 102 | $85,937 | $344,643 | $1,251 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024, cost-of-living data. 131 places with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Missouri Affordability Summary
This is an accurate list of the most affordable places to live in Missouri for 2026, if you’re looking at the cost of living numbers in Missouri.
The cheapest cities in Missouri are Nevada, Kennett, Berkeley, Macon, Lebanon, Jennings, Monett, Dexter, Aurora, and Richmond.
