Newton County, MO

County Profile

60,118 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Newton County, MO.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

63out of 100
Area Score
Top 48% of 1,225 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 30% of 1,255 counties65
SchoolsTop 45% of 973 counties55
Growth629th of 1,226 counties49
Housing affordabilityTop 22% of 1,255 counties100
ClimateTop 38% of 1,254 counties71
Physical resilience955th of 1,255 counties38
Access782nd of 1,255 counties76
Economic stability732nd of 1,255 counties56
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.8% and median household income $66,301, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published profiles.

In the public schools here, 36% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 14.4 students for every teacher.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, ice storm and cold wave.

At a glance

Population
60,118
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$66,301
Top 46% nationally
Density
96/sq mi
624.8 sq mi of land
Median age
40.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Newton County
Missouri
Metro area
Joplin, MO-KS
Nearest major airport
XNA
43 mi · Northwest Arkansas Ntl
Median home value
$190,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.8% is lower than 67% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment grew 0.7% over the past year, to 27,248 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$3,221$66,301Top 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,546$33,219Bottom 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate13.5%Top 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute23.8 minBottom 36%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher23.5%Top 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment27,248Bottom 36%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)1.5%Top 35%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.7%Top 19%June 2026
Labor force28,321Bottom 35%June 2026
Labor force participation60.2%Top 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.6%Bottom 12%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.8%Bottom 33%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/064.42.0
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.8% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202466k56k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $66,301 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Joplin, MO-KS
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers3,470$47,430
Registered Nurses2,670$74,930
Stockers and Order Fillers2,620$35,460
Retail Salespersons2,420$30,740
Cashiers2,400$29,050
Home Health and Personal Care Aides2,050$34,800

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

36% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 45% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.4 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
24
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.4
across all schools here
Math proficiency
35.9%
Top 49% in Missouri
Reading proficiency
45.0%
Top 43% in Missouri
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
NEOSHO HIGHNEOSHO SCHOOL DISTRICT1,53018.2
NEOSHO JR. HIGHNEOSHO SCHOOL DISTRICT75315.445%52%
MIDDLE SCH.NEOSHO SCHOOL DISTRICT70213.531%43%
SOUTH MIDDLEJOPLIN SCHOOLS59614.537%52%
GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER ELEM.NEOSHO SCHOOL DISTRICT59116.445%57%
GRANBYEAST NEWTON CO. R-VI58313.627%37%
BENTON ELEM.NEOSHO SCHOOL DISTRICT52313.434%39%
SENECA HIGHSENECA R-VII45013.2
EAST NEWTON HIGHEAST NEWTON CO. R-VI44514.8
TRIWAYEAST NEWTON CO. R-VI43113.532%35%
SENECA ELEM.SENECA R-VII41714.422%32%
STAPLETON ELEM.JOPLIN SCHOOLS40013.339%47%

57.3% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Missouri’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $817 takes 15% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.9 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
14.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$817
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$190,700
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.88Bottom 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate76.6%Top 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±5524,866Top 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$39$817Bottom 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$12,568$190,700Top 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income14.8%Bottom 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate11.0%Bottom 34%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
49/ 100
Ranks 629 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is broadly steady, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 5% since 2020, reaching 61,519 in 2024.

At 1.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
103
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.7
Bottom 30% nationally
Year over year
+1%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
34.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202462k59k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2022202320242025116107
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was close to 2022 (+4%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 90°F and January a low of 25°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 45.6 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station JOPLIN REGIONAL AIRPORT, 18.9 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND6.6"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation45.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low25°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high90°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing45°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

38 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, ice storm and cold wave.

Ice stormHigh
Strong windModerate
HailModerate
Inland floodingElevated
DroughtModerate
Winter weatherModerate
EarthquakeModerate
Cold waveElevated
LandslideModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, tornado, wildfire, lightning, hurricane.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Newton County records 0.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 12.4 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 10.8 per 100,000 residents in Newton County.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
12.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
10.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
16.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Newton County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Newton County rather than Newton County itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 43 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Northwest Arkansas NtlXNA43 mi8,801 ft
Springfield-Branson NtlSGF57 mi8,000 ft
Tulsa IntlTUL99 mi10,000 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
63
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

Cities in Newton County, MO