Three KC-area cities made the top 10 best places to live in Missouri in 2026-2027, while Kansas City ranked 12th, the U.S. News & World Report said in a recent ranking .
The website also ranked the best places to live in Kansas, with three Kansas City-area cities making the list.
Lee’s Summit earned fourth place on the list, with an overall score of 6.3 out of 10, said the report. The city was also placed within the top 100 best places to live in the U.S. in 2026-2027, earning 95th on the list.
With a population of about 104,000 people, the median age of residents is around 39.
If you’re looking for love in Lee’s Summit, you may have trouble. There are fewer single people in the city than the national average. Of the population, 56% is already married.
The median price for a home in the area is $321,576 and the median rent sits at $1,110.
Over the past years, Lee’s Summit’s population has grown notably It grew by 5.9% over the span of five years, according to 2025 U.S. Census data.
The next KC-area city immediately follows in fifth place. Blue Springs scored a 6.2, one point behind Lee’s Summit.
The city’s median age is around 37 years old, and about 59,333 people live there.
The median home value is $255,009 and the median rent is at $975. Similar to Lee’s Summit, this city has fewer single people than the national average. Married people make up 54.4% of the population.
The next city to rank on the list, an hour from the KC metropolitan area, has a median rent price of $733 and a median home value of $161,606.
With a score of 5.7, St. Joseph sits in eighth place on the list. The median age of people in the city is 37 years old, and the population is about 71,750 people. Of that population, 67.6% are single, more than the national average.
There are also more single people in the next ranking KC-area city; 57% of the population is single.
Independence secured 11th on the list, scoring 5.3 out of 10. The city’s population is about 120,541. The median age of residents is 39 years old.
The median rent of the area is $896, and the median price of a home is $174,303.
Kansas City ended up 12th on the list with an overall score of 5.3 out of 10. The city ranked 20th for the best big cities to live in the U.S.
The population is about 529,375 people, and the median age is around 35. The single community of the city makes up 59.9% of the population, while 40.1% are married.
For renters, the median price is around $984, and home prices sit at $257,776.
U.S. News & World Report determined the scores for these Missouri cities by considering factors like housing affordability, cost of living, quality of education and healthcare, crime rates, culture and more. These factors are split into four categories: value, quality of life, desirability and the job market. Each category is worth a certain percentage, determined by Americans’ preferences, to have a comprehensive score for each city.
These rankings are created to give insight to people on potential places to live. The data used to make these rankings comes from both private and government sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce, the Federal Reserve, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, state and local sources and U.S. News’ internal resources.
Here’s the full list of best places to live in Missouri in 2026-2027 and their scores.
St. Peters: 6.8 O’Fallon: 6.7 St. Charles: 6.5 Lee’s Summit: 6.3 Blue Springs: 6.2 Jefferson City: 6.2 Columbia: 6.1 Florissant: 6.1 St. Joseph: 5.7 Cape Girardeau: 5.6 Independence: 5.3 Kansas City: 5.3 Joplin: 5.3 St. Louis: 5.2 Springfield: 4.9
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