Best Places to Buy Rental Property in Missouri (2026)

The top of the Missouri list is Florissant at 10.7 percent gross, and it gets there on rent rather than price: $1,600 a month against a $179,950 median closed price, while the cheapest city, Poplar Bluff at $129,900, ranks second. One caution on the rent side: in Poplar Bluff houses asked a median of $1,300 while the all-type median was $1,000. For a house, compare house rents with house sale prices; substituting the house rent into a ratio whose denominator is a mixed sale median only makes the number look better, not more representative. Springfield, the busiest market on the list with about 192 closings a month, sits fifteenth of 20 at 7.1 percent. The table shows the 20 highest-yielding markets among 43 Missouri cities meeting the coverage requirements; the yield range above describes the markets shown. A second table lists two cities with enough closings to price but too few rental listings to rank.

The ranking

Gross yield here is an asking rental yield screen: twelve times the median asking rent over the median closed price, before taxes, insurance, vacancy, management or repairs. Sales use municipal boundaries. Rental listings use the associated city name and may cover a wider postal area. The ratio therefore compares related, but not perfectly matched, market samples, and a home bought at the median price does not necessarily earn the median rent. Confirmed-close medians appear where at least 30 confirmed lease closes were recorded in the window.

City by city

1. Florissant, 10.7 percent gross

At $179,950 to buy and $1,600 a month to rent, Florissant yields 10.7 percent gross on 343 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $133 per square foot. The Florissant market page carries the monthly figures.

2. Poplar Bluff, 9.2 percent gross

Poplar Bluff clears the rental bar narrowly, with 77 listings behind its $1,000 median, so its 9.2 percent yield deserves a wider margin of error than the bigger samples here. The numbers: $129,900 median closed price across 248 closings, $1,000 median asking rent across 77 listings, 9.2 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $95 per square foot. Full detail is on the Poplar Bluff market page.

3. Raytown, 8.3 percent gross

Rent is what puts Raytown third here; on price alone it would sit seventh of 20. Homes in Raytown closed at a median of $224,900 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,562, a gross yield of 8.3 percent. Full detail is on the Raytown market page.

4. Saint Peters, 8.1 percent gross

Rent is what puts Saint Peters fourth here; on price alone it would sit fourteenth of 20. The numbers: $325,000 median closed price across 370 closings, $2,200 median asking rent across 359 listings, 8.1 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $174 per square foot. See the Saint Peters page for the property mix and the price band.

5. Joplin, 7.7 percent gross

At $188,000 to buy and $1,200 a month to rent, Joplin yields 7.7 percent gross on 260 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $138 per square foot. Full detail is on the Joplin market page.

6. Saint Charles, 7.5 percent gross

Saint Charles ranks sixth on yield but only sixteenth on entry price: the $2,200 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. At $350,000 to buy and $2,200 a month to rent, Saint Charles yields 7.5 percent gross on 515 tracked closings. The Saint Charles market page carries the monthly figures.

7. Arnold, 7.5 percent gross

Rent is what puts Arnold seventh here; on price alone it would sit twelfth of 20. The numbers: $287,000 median closed price across 254 closings, $1,795 median asking rent across 170 listings, 7.5 percent gross. The Arnold market page carries the monthly figures.

8. Sedalia, 7.5 percent gross

Sedalia is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: third on price, eighth on yield, because a $185,000 home there rents for only $1,150. Homes in Sedalia closed at a median of $185,000 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,150, a gross yield of 7.5 percent. The Sedalia market page carries the monthly figures.

9. Independence, 7.4 percent gross

Homes in Independence went under contract in a median of 9 days, so a buyer chasing its 7.4 percent yield needs financing ready before the search. Homes in Independence closed at a median of $225,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,395, a gross yield of 7.4 percent. Houses there closed at about $147 per square foot. See the Independence page for the property mix and the price band.

10. Belton, 7.4 percent gross

Homes in Belton went under contract in a median of 9 days, so a buyer chasing its 7.4 percent yield needs financing ready before the search. At $299,000 to buy and $1,850 a month to rent, Belton yields 7.4 percent gross on 165 tracked closings. Full detail is on the Belton market page.

11. Ballwin, 7.4 percent gross

Rent is what puts Ballwin eleventh here; on price alone it would sit nineteenth of 20. Homes in Ballwin closed at a median of $389,800 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,400, a gross yield of 7.4 percent. Houses there closed at about $182 per square foot. Full detail is on the Ballwin market page.

12. Grandview, 7.4 percent gross

Grandview moves fast, 9 days from listing to contract at the median, which matters more than its 7.4 percent yield if you cannot close quickly. At $259,900 to buy and $1,600 a month to rent, Grandview yields 7.4 percent gross on 169 tracked closings. The Grandview market page carries the monthly figures.

13. O'Fallon, 7.2 percent gross

O'Fallon ranks thirteenth on yield but only seventeenth on entry price: the $2,250 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. Homes in O'Fallon closed at a median of $374,900 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,250, a gross yield of 7.2 percent. Houses there closed at about $172 per square foot. Full detail is on the O'Fallon market page.

14. Festus, 7.2 percent gross

Festus clears the rental bar narrowly, with 92 listings behind its $1,650 median, so its 7.2 percent yield deserves a wider margin of error than the bigger samples here. Homes in Festus closed at a median of $275,000 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,650, a gross yield of 7.2 percent. Houses there closed at about $178 per square foot. The Festus market page carries the monthly figures.

15. Springfield, 7.1 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Springfield far: it is sixth cheapest on this list and fifteenth on yield, with rent of $1,295 against a $220,000 median price. The numbers: $220,000 median closed price across 1,150 closings, $1,295 median asking rent across 3,326 listings, 7.1 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $154 per square foot. See the Springfield page for the property mix and the price band.

16. Wentzville, 7.0 percent gross

Rent is what puts Wentzville sixteenth here; on price alone it would sit twentieth of 20. At $393,000 to buy and $2,300 a month to rent, Wentzville yields 7.0 percent gross on 367 tracked closings. The Wentzville market page carries the monthly figures.

17. Kearney, 6.9 percent gross

Only 97 rental listings sit behind Kearney's $2,180 median; the yield is real but less settled than in cities with hundreds. Homes in Kearney closed at a median of $377,250 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,180, a gross yield of 6.9 percent. See the Kearney page for the property mix and the price band.

18. Grain Valley, 6.8 percent gross

The numbers: $340,000 median closed price across 275 closings, $1,940 median asking rent across 202 listings, 6.8 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $175 per square foot. Full detail is on the Grain Valley market page.

19. Saint Joseph, 6.7 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Saint Joseph far: it is fifth cheapest on this list and nineteenth on yield, with rent of $1,085 against a $194,500 median price. At $194,500 to buy and $1,085 a month to rent, Saint Joseph yields 6.7 percent gross on 537 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $127 per square foot. The Saint Joseph market page carries the monthly figures.

20. Republic, 6.7 percent gross

Republic is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: tenth on price, twentieth on yield, because a $274,900 home there rents for only $1,525. Homes in Republic closed at a median of $274,900 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,525, a gross yield of 6.7 percent. The Republic market page carries the monthly figures.

Priced, but too few rentals to rank

These cities cleared 100 tracked closings but fewer than 50 rental listings carried their name in the last twelve months, so no yield is printed for them.

How this ranking is built

• •Cities: every Missouri city where Resideline tracked at least 100 closings inside the municipal boundary in its reporting window (six or twelve months) and at least 50 rental listings under the city's name since October 3, 2025: 43 cities qualify and the table shows the 20 highest-yielding.
• •Prices: the median price homes closed at inside the city limits, from Resideline's tracked closings; the state comparison uses the statewide median of $299,000 across 38,250 closings.
• •Rents: the median advertised rent on rental listings Resideline tracked in the last twelve months, all property types, measured on the listings that carry the city's name (a postal footprint, wider than the city line in some places).
• •Confirmed-close medians: Observed rent blends two kinds of record: confirmed lease closes extracted from property records, and the final asking rent on listings that left Resideline tracking without a recorded close. Where a city has at least 30 confirmed closes in the window, their median is printed beside the asking figure; in the last twelve months about a quarter of Resideline's close episodes are confirmed closes. The asking and confirmed-close samples are separate, not paired, so a difference between their medians is not a measured gap on the same listings.
• •What is missing: taxes, insurance, vacancy, management and repairs, which turn a gross yield into a net one, and the unit mix, which differs between what sells and what rents.

Sources and related pages

• •Resideline tracked closings inside city limits (window per city, updated October 4, 2026) and rental listings since October 3, 2025; confirmed lease closes extracted from property records.
• •More Missouri rankings: Cheapest cities to buy a house in Missouri ranks the same kind of list with each city's price per square foot for houses, realized appreciation and days to contract beside the median, and Cap Rate by City ranks the Missouri cities Resideline tracks by gross rental yield. The Missouri housing market hub carries the statewide figures and the largest Missouri markets by closings.
• •Asking rent vs observed rent compares live asking rents with final asking rents under that study's own definition; it says nothing about confirmed lease closes.

Prepared with Resideline's research pipeline and reviewed by Jeffrey Batista, Resideline's founder.