You want to know the population of a town or city, employment rate, crime rate.... the good, the bad & the ugly. 
These links are the incorporated towns listed by population size and will provide some of the critical information you need as you search different areas.

Other places on the maps were named for a post office, or a train depot location long gone. The signs continue as markers.
Here is a list of named places from the late 1880s for Greene County. https://thelibrary.org/lochist/moser/greenepl.html 

Below is a Missouri Counties Map, you can also this  Google Map of Greater Springfield Area