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: $1,605 a month against a $180,000 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 $1,200 while the all-type median was $950. 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 201 closings a month, sits fourteenth of 20 at 7.2 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 $180,000 to buy and $1,605 a month to rent, Florissant yields 10.7 percent gross on 331 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $133 per square foot. The Florissant market page carries the monthly figures.

2. Poplar Bluff, 8.8 percent gross

Poplar Bluff clears the rental bar narrowly, with 70 listings behind its $950 median, so its 8.8 percent yield deserves a wider margin of error than the bigger samples here. The numbers: $129,900 median closed price across 242 closings, $950 median asking rent across 70 listings, 8.8 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $97 per square foot. Full detail is on the Poplar Bluff market page.

3. Saint Peters, 8.2 percent gross

Rent is what puts Saint Peters third here; on price alone it would sit thirteenth of 20. The numbers: $320,000 median closed price across 386 closings, $2,200 median asking rent across 351 listings, 8.2 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $174 per square foot. See the Saint Peters page for the property mix and the price band.

4. Raytown, 8.2 percent gross

Homes in Raytown closed at a median of $225,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,545, a gross yield of 8.2 percent. Full detail is on the Raytown market page.

5. Joplin, 8.1 percent gross

At $185,000 to buy and $1,250 a month to rent, Joplin yields 8.1 percent gross on 250 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $142 per square foot. Full detail is on the Joplin market page.

6. Sedalia, 7.7 percent gross

Sedalia is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: second on price, sixth on yield, because a $179,950 home there rents for only $1,150. Homes in Sedalia closed at a median of $179,950 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,150, a gross yield of 7.7 percent. The Sedalia market page carries the monthly figures.

7. Ballwin, 7.6 percent gross

Rent is what puts Ballwin seventh here; on price alone it would sit nineteenth of 20. Homes in Ballwin closed at a median of $385,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,450, a gross yield of 7.6 percent. Houses there closed at about $181 per square foot. Full detail is on the Ballwin market page.

8. Saint Charles, 7.6 percent gross

Saint Charles ranks eighth on yield but only sixteenth on entry price: the $2,218 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. At $350,000 to buy and $2,218 a month to rent, Saint Charles yields 7.6 percent gross on 521 tracked closings. The Saint Charles market page carries the monthly figures.

9. Arnold, 7.5 percent gross

Arnold moves fast, 8 days from listing to contract at the median, which matters more than its 7.5 percent yield if you cannot close quickly. The numbers: $289,900 median closed price across 263 closings, $1,800 median asking rent across 173 listings, 7.5 percent gross. The Arnold market page carries the monthly figures.

10. Independence, 7.4 percent gross

Independence is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: sixth on price, tenth on yield, because a $225,000 home there rents for only $1,395. 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 $148 per square foot. See the Independence page for the property mix and the price band.

11. 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 $299,450 to buy and $1,850 a month to rent, Belton yields 7.4 percent gross on 174 tracked closings. Full detail is on the Belton market page.

12. Grandview, 7.4 percent gross

Grandview is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: eighth on price, twelfth on yield, because a $260,000 home there rents for only $1,600. At $260,000 to buy and $1,600 a month to rent, Grandview yields 7.4 percent gross on 171 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $147 per square foot. The Grandview market page carries the monthly figures.

13. O'Fallon, 7.3 percent gross

O'Fallon ranks thirteenth on yield but only seventeenth on entry price: the $2,290 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. Homes in O'Fallon closed at a median of $375,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,290, a gross yield of 7.3 percent. Houses there closed at about $171 per square foot. Full detail is on the O'Fallon market page.

14. Springfield, 7.2 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Springfield far: it is fifth cheapest on this list and fourteenth on yield, with rent of $1,295 against a $215,000 median price. The numbers: $215,000 median closed price across 1,207 closings, $1,295 median asking rent across 3,099 listings, 7.2 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $152 per square foot. See the Springfield page for the property mix and the price band.

15. Festus, 7.2 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Festus far: it is tenth cheapest on this list and fifteenth on yield, with rent of $1,650 against a $275,000 median price. 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 $179 per square foot. The Festus market page carries the monthly figures.

16. Wentzville, 7.1 percent gross

Rent is what puts Wentzville sixteenth here; on price alone it would sit twentieth of 20. At $390,000 to buy and $2,295 a month to rent, Wentzville yields 7.1 percent gross on 385 tracked closings. The Wentzville market page carries the monthly figures.

17. Kearney, 7.0 percent gross

Only 97 rental listings sit behind Kearney's $2,175 median; the yield is real but less settled than in cities with hundreds. Homes in Kearney closed at a median of $375,000 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,175, a gross yield of 7.0 percent. See the Kearney page for the property mix and the price band.

18. Grain Valley, 6.8 percent gross

The numbers: $339,900 median closed price across 286 closings, $1,940 median asking rent across 189 listings, 6.8 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $174 per square foot. Full detail is on the Grain Valley market page.

19. Republic, 6.8 percent gross

Republic is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: ninth on price, nineteenth on yield, because a $273,879 home there rents for only $1,545. Homes in Republic closed at a median of $273,879 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,545, a gross yield of 6.8 percent. The Republic market page carries the monthly figures.

20. Blue Springs, 6.7 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Blue Springs far: it is fourteenth cheapest on this list and twentieth on yield, with rent of $1,850 against a $329,900 median price. The numbers: $329,900 median closed price across 535 closings, $1,850 median asking rent across 569 listings, 6.7 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $174 per square foot. The Blue Springs 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 September 10, 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 38,619 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 September 10, 2026) and rental listings since September 10, 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.