Safest Counties and Cities in Missouri: 16 Ranked (2026)
The 16 Missouri county equivalents where police report enough to the FBI to build a reliable rate, ranked by violent crime, with home prices, asking rents and incomes where available.
Missouri has 115 county equivalents. Sixteen of them clear the reporting bar this page uses, and the gap between the quietest, Christian at 105 violent offenses per 100,000, and the busiest, St. Louis at 1,230, is 12 to one. What homes closed at over the last 12 months sits beside the rate where Resideline has enough sales to publish a median: 53,037 closing records tracked in the 10 counties that clear that bar.
St. Louis is an independent city and a county equivalent in the FBI and Census data, so one of the 16 places ranked here is a city rather than a county, and it is marked as one.
The crime rates here are built from the 4,087,238 residents those police agencies actually report on, over the months they reported. Each figure is a single county-wide figure, so treat this as a way to narrow a search rather than a verdict on any street.
We do not treat missing or conflicting crime data as zero. A county appears here only when its reporting clears our reliability threshold, and we set aside results that conflict materially with the state's own records. Whether a county is ranked depends on its crime reporting alone; whether it shows a price depends on whether Resideline tracked enough closings there.
The ranking
| # | County or city | Violent per 100k | Property per 100k | Median closed price | Median asking rent | Median income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christian | 105 | 589 | $340,000 | $1,599 | $81,892 |
| 2 | St. Charles | 128 | 537 | $372,454 | $2,200 | $103,890 |
| 3 | Cass | 146 | 1,058 | $349,990 | $1,700 | $83,378 |
| 4 | Pulaski | 150 | 575 | n/a | n/a | $59,368 |
| 5 | Lincoln | 178 | 686 | n/a | n/a | $93,517 |
| 6 | Johnson | 181 | 991 | n/a | n/a | $68,188 |
| 7 | Jefferson | 226 | 778 | $290,000 | $1,625 | $86,073 |
| 8 | Taney | 258 | 1,134 | n/a | n/a | $57,978 |
| 9 | Cape Girardeau | 312 | 1,134 | $275,000 | $1,150 | $66,862 |
| 10 | Boone | 322 | 1,586 | n/a | n/a | $80,041 |
| 11 | Jasper | 341 | 2,294 | $224,776 | $1,350 | $62,016 |
| 12 | St. Louis | 370 | 1,625 | $284,984 | $1,500 | $84,109 |
| 13 | Buchanan | 443 | 3,219 | n/a | n/a | $63,736 |
| 14 | Greene | 764 | 2,433 | $265,451 | $1,300 | $66,286 |
| 15 | Jackson | 1,165 | 4,102 | $285,000 | $1,500 | $70,661 |
| 16 | St. Louis (city) | 1,230 | 5,046 | $239,900 | $1,260 | $53,962 |
A closer look at the 12 safest counties
1. Christian County
Christian's violent crime rate is 105 per 100,000 residents, the lowest quarter among the Missouri counties Resideline can measure. The median comparable US county records 245, so it is quieter than most of the country too. Homes changed hands at a median $340,000, around 119 percent of what the rest of this list recorded. Median household income is $81,892, roughly 118 percent of the level across this list. Its property rate is also among the lowest here, 589 per 100,000, or 0.5 times the median comparable US county. The median rental listing asks $1,599 a month. For prices at street level, see Nixa, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
2. St. Charles County
At 128 violent offenses per 100,000, St. Charles sits in the lowest quarter of the places on this list. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. The median home closed at $372,454, roughly 131 percent of the middle figure for these counties. That combination, among the safest counties here and among the most expensive, is what most buyers are picturing when they pay a premium for a quiet address. The ratio of price to local household income is 3.6, among the gentlest on this list. Asking rents of $2,200 a month against that price put it in the top quarter of this list for gross return. Resideline publishes a separate page for Wentzville, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
3. Cass County
Cass's violent crime rate is 146 per 100,000 residents, the lowest quarter among the Missouri counties Resideline can measure. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. Buyers there paid a median of $349,990, some 123 percent of the level across the counties measured. Safe and expensive is the usual pairing on this list, and this is one of its clearest cases. Homes cost 4.2 times what the median household there earns, among the steepest ratios on this list. Property offenses run at 1,058 per 100,000, in the middle of this list. For prices at street level, see Raymore, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
4. Pulaski County
At 150 violent offenses per 100,000, Pulaski sits in the lowest quarter of the places on this list. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. Its property rate is also among the lowest here, 575 per 100,000, or 0.5 times the median comparable US county.
5. Lincoln County
Lincoln's violent crime rate is 178 per 100,000 residents, the middle range among the Missouri counties Resideline can measure. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. Households there earn a median of $93,517, about 135 percent of the median for these counties. Property crime is low, at 686 per 100,000, the bottom quarter of this list and 0.6 times the median comparable US county.
6. Johnson County
Johnson records 181 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, which places it in the middle range of the Missouri counties measured here. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. Property offenses run at 991 per 100,000, in the middle of this list.
7. Jefferson County
Jefferson's violent crime rate is 226 per 100,000 residents, the middle range among the Missouri counties Resideline can measure. That is close to the median comparable US county, which records 245. Homes there closed at a median of $290,000, close to the middle of this list. Prices sit close to local earning power, at 3.4 times the median household income. At $1,625 a month in asking rent, the gross return here is in the top quarter of the counties measured. Its property rate, 778 per 100,000, sits in the middle of these counties. Resideline publishes a separate page for Imperial, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
8. Taney County
At 258 violent offenses per 100,000, Taney sits in the middle range of the places on this list. That is close to the median comparable US county, which records 245. Households there earn a median of $57,978, about 84 percent of the median for these counties. Property offenses run at 1,134 per 100,000, in the middle of this list.
9. Cape Girardeau County
Cape Girardeau's violent crime rate is 312 per 100,000 residents, the middle range among the Missouri counties Resideline can measure. That is 1.3 times the median comparable US county, which records 245, though still below the Missouri statewide rate of 550 per 100,000 in the same data. The median closed price, $275,000, sits near the center of the counties measured. Property offenses run at 1,134 per 100,000, in the middle of this list. Asking rents run about $1,150 a month. For prices at street level, see Cape Girardeau, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
10. Boone County
At 322 violent offenses per 100,000, Boone sits in the middle range of the places on this list. That is 1.3 times the median comparable US county, which records 245, though still below the Missouri statewide rate of 550 per 100,000 in the same data. Median household income is $80,041, roughly 115 percent of the level across this list. Its property rate, 1,586 per 100,000, sits in the middle of these counties.
11. Jasper County
Police in Jasper reported 341 violent offenses per 100,000 people, putting it in the middle range of this list. That is 1.4 times the median comparable US county, which records 245, though still below the Missouri statewide rate of 550 per 100,000 in the same data. A median closing price of $224,776 puts it at roughly 79 percent of the middle figure for this list. Asking rents of $1,350 a month against that price put it in the top quarter of this list for gross return. Its property rate, 2,294 per 100,000, sits in the middle of these counties. Resideline publishes a separate page for Joplin, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
12. St. Louis County
St. Louis records 370 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, which places it in the middle range of the Missouri counties measured here. That is 1.5 times the median comparable US county, which records 245, though still below the Missouri statewide rate of 550 per 100,000 in the same data. Homes there closed at a median of $284,984, close to the middle of this list. A typical home costs 3.4 years of the median household's income, the low end of this list. Property offenses run at 1,625 per 100,000, in the middle of this list. The median rental listing asks $1,500 a month. For prices at street level, see Florissant, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
Does safety set the price in Missouri?
Somewhat, and less than you would expect. The safest third of these counties runs 27 percent above the highest-crime third on price. The same safe places also earn 26 percent more, so income explains part of the raw gap. This state-level comparison does not isolate density, housing mix or other factors that may explain the remainder.
That matches what we found nationally: across 688 counties, once income and other county characteristics are controlled for, a crime rate stops predicting home prices. The full analysis is in our study of crime and home prices.
That is a county-level result. Within a county, research at the scale of a block or a neighborhood finds that violent crime does lower the value of the homes nearest to it, so use these figures to compare counties, not streets.
The counties we cannot rank
Larger Missouri places are missing from the table above. Every one with more than 150,000 residents is listed here with the reason.
- •Clay, with about 263,000 residents, reports 46 percent of its population through the FBI program, below the 90 percent we require.
How to read this list
These figures describe whole areas. A quiet town and a rough district an hour apart carry the same number here, so the ranking is a starting point for a search rather than a description of any particular street.
Prices and rents are as of September 9, 2026, from closings and rental listings Resideline tracks over the previous 12 months; a price is shown where at least 100 closings were tracked and a rent where at least 50 listings were. Rent figures are the median asking rent on listings, not lease figures. Crime is the 2025 FBI Crime Data Explorer release, measured for the whole county over the months each agency reported, and violent crime means murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Household income is the Census SAIPE 2024 estimate of the county's median household income; population is the Census 2024 estimate. Where this page compares a rate with the median comparable US county, that figure (245 violent and 1188 property offenses per 100,000) is the median across the 874 US counties with at least 50,000 residents whose agencies reported on 90 percent or more of them for the year.
Sources and related pages
- •Crime: FBI Crime Data Explorer, agency-level offense counts for 2025, aggregated by county over the months each agency reported.
- •Income: Census SAIPE 2024, county median household income.
- •Population: Census county population estimates, vintage 2024.
- •Prices and rents: Resideline's tracked closings and rental listings, 12 months to September 2026.
- •Related: Safest counties by state; Does crime actually lower home prices?; Missouri housing market; Safest counties in Arkansas; Safest counties in Illinois; Safest counties in Iowa; Safest counties in Kansas; Safest counties in Kentucky; Safest counties in Oklahoma; Safest counties in Tennessee.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the safest county in Missouri?
Of the 16 Missouri county equivalents measured here, Christian County records the lowest violent crime rate at 105 offenses per 100,000 residents, against 245 for the median comparable US county. Homes there closed at a median of $340,000 over the last 12 months.
Is this every county in Missouri?
No. It covers 16 of the state's 115 county equivalents, the ones where police agencies report at least 90 percent of the population to the FBI, the area has at least 50,000 residents, and the resulting rate falls inside the sanity bounds we apply. Whether Resideline has enough sales there decides only whether a price is shown. The larger places that miss those bars are listed on the page with the reason.
Does a lower crime rate mean higher home prices?
Less than most people assume. Comparing the safest third of these counties with the highest-crime third, the median closed price is 27 percent higher and household income 26 percent higher. Across 688 US counties we found that once income and other county characteristics are controlled for, a county's crime rate stops predicting its home prices. At the scale of a block, the research says violent crime does lower nearby values.
Is this crime rate for my neighborhood?
No. The FBI publishes these figures for whole counties, so every part of a county carries the same number here, from its densest district to its farmland. It is useful for narrowing a search and not a substitute for looking at a specific address.
Are these rents asking rents or lease rents?
They are the median asking rent on rental listings in the county over the last 12 months. That is what landlords advertised, a guide to the market rather than a lease figure.
About the author
Jeffrey Batista
Jeffrey Batista is the founder of Resideline, a real estate technology company building institutional grade valuation and investment analysis tools for real estate investors.
A software engineer with more than 10 years of experience, Jeffrey has worked across full stack development, infrastructure, data engineering, machine learning, and large scale systems. He left his engineering career to build Resideline full time.
Jeffrey is also a real estate investor with nearly a decade of hands on experience buying, renovating, managing, and analyzing residential properties. His experience on both sides of the industry, as an engineer and an investor, led him to build Resideline after seeing how fragmented and outdated many of the tools available to individual investors were.
Today, he leads the development of Resideline's proprietary data infrastructure, automated valuation models, rental analytics, and investment underwriting technology.