Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Joplin's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Joplin?
Your $100,000 in Joplin has the same purchasing power as $130,124 in the average US city. You'd need $30,124 less here to maintain that standard of living.
Demographics and workforce data from the US Census ACS 5-Year.
bachelor's or higher
Climate, safety, and walkability indicators.
See a side-by-side breakdown of cost of living, housing, and salaries.
Popular comparisons
Sorted by affordability — most affordable first.
Within 10 points of Joplin's cost index of 77, sorted by closest match.
Joplin has a handful of real selling points, and they're not the kind of thing you find in a brochure. The cost-of-living math actually works and walkable in a way most us cities aren't are the headliners, plus 1 more things worth knowing. The rest is below.
By the numbers, Joplin is one of the more affordable US cities of its size. The composite index sits at 77, about 23% below the national average, with housing as the main driver of the discount. Median rent in town runs about $873/mo against a typical household income of $50,996, which is the kind of ratio that leaves room to save.
With a citywide Walk Score of 57/100, Joplin sits firmly in the walkable-by-US-standards camp. Pick a central neighborhood and most daily errands happen without keys in your hand.
Average commute time in Joplin runs around 17 minutes one-way — short enough that it doesn't restructure your day. Compared to the 45-plus-minute commutes that are normal in major metros, the difference adds up to a real lifestyle gap.
Reasons are pulled from Joplin's actual data — Census ACS, BLS, BEA, NOAA, EPA AQS, FBI, and Walk Score. We don't list positives that aren't supported by the numbers, which is why different cities show different sections.
Joplin gets a handful of meaningful snow days each year. Winters average about 30°F — cold enough for several inches at a time, warm enough for everything to melt between storms.
A real winter, but not a punishing one. Joplin averages roughly 30°F in winter, with the coldest mornings dipping into the single digits a few times a year and most days landing somewhere between "chilly" and "actually cold".
Properly hot. Joplin's summer averages around 92°F with daily highs that routinely break 100°F. The trick to summer here is starting the day at sunrise and staying inside through the worst of it.
Joplin falls in roughly USDA Zone 8. The zone classification is based on average annual minimum temperatures, so it's the right lookup for whether perennials and trees will overwinter here. Note that this is approximate from our winter-temperature data — check the USDA map for the exact zone before betting an expensive plant on it.
Roughly 1,010 feet (308 m). That's modest elevation — comparable to most inland-Midwest and Southern cities.
Joplin's reported crime rate runs high: about 6,692 per 100,000 residents, materially above the national average. Specific neighborhoods vary widely, but the city-wide aggregate is on the rougher end of the US distribution.
Joplin is a genuinely affordable city by US standards. The composite index sits at 77 versus the 100 national baseline — about 23% cheaper overall, with housing doing most of the heavy lifting.
In parts, yes. With a citywide Walk Score of 57/100, Joplin has genuinely walkable neighborhoods alongside more sprawled stretches. If walkability matters to you, the neighborhood choice will matter more than the city-level number.
As a rule of thumb, plan on about $53,795 to live in Joplin the way a $70,000 earner lives in a typical US city. The math gets less forgiving the lower you go below that. Median rent in Joplin runs about $873/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.