Best Places51630, IA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 51630, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

51630 ranks 19,012th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and walkability ranks lowest.

#19,012
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 51630

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 51630 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

51630's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%State finances
Top 10%Quiet
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 51630 with other zip codes.

Where 51630 ranks high

  • State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than 93% of zip codes
  • Healthcare accessBetter than 87% of zip codes
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than 83% of zip codes
  • School gradeA−, better than 82% of zip codes

Where 51630 ranks low

  • WalkabilityBetter than only 5% of zip codes
  • Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of zip codes
  • Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of zip codes
  • BikingBetter than only 8% of zip codes
  • Tree shadeBetter than only 26% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 51630

A household needs to earn about $25,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 51630 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,342, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$25,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$588
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $94,151 home
Median rent
$742
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$480
Property tax$77
Homeowners insurance$31

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 51630's effective rate of 0.98%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 51630

51630 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
52
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
23%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.3
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1816%
18 to 3414%
35 to 4922%
50 to 6425%
65 and older23%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 51630.


Who works in 51630, and how

Work in 51630 centers on manufacturing and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.

Work from home
5%
below the national average
Unemployment
3.6%
below the national average
Job growth
−0.1%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing27%
Agriculture & forestry11%
Construction10%
Retail trade9%
Health care & social9%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 93%
  • Work from home 5%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in 51630

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 51630.


What the weather is like in 51630, month by month

51630 sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January34°25°17°
April65°51°40°
July86°75°65°
October67°53°43°

Flying in and out of 51630

Eppley Airfield sits about 61 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.6 million passengers in 2025, with 73 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
OMA
Eppley Airfield, about 61 miles
Airport size
Medium hub
62nd-busiest in the US, 73 nonstop destinations
Average drive
87 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 51630

Schools across 51630 average an A−, better than 82% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 51630 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


51630 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 51630 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 51630

Is 51630 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 51630 ranks 19,012th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on state finances, quiet, and health care access, and lowest on walkability and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 51630 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $94,151. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $62,342 median income, cost of living beats 42% of zip codes.

Is 51630 safe?

51630 is safer than 31% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $376 per resident a year.


Compare 51630 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 51630. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 51630 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

51630 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 51630: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 51630: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 51630: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 51630: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

51630 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.