Best Places52246, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 52246, 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.
52246 ranks 5,171st of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 52246
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.
52246's strengths and weaknesses
Where 52246 ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of zip codes
- BikingBetter than 97% of zip codes
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of zip codes
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of zip codes
- School gradeA, better than 92% of zip codes
Where 52246 ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 12% of zip codes
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of zip codes
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of zip codes
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 24% of zip codes
- Air qualityBetter than only 37% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 52246
A household needs to earn about $100,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 52246 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $76,529, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 52246's effective rate of 1.46%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in 52246
52246 runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 52246.
Who works in 52246, and how
Work in 52246 centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 61%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 26%
Life in 52246
52246 has more parkland per resident than 89% of zip codes. That concentrates in some parts of 52246 and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 52246, month by month
52246 sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 23° | 16° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of 52246
The nearest airport, The Eastern Iowa, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 190 miles away.
The best schools in and around 52246
Schools across 52246 average an A, better than 92% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Lincoln Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Weber ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Norman Borlaug Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clear Creek Amana Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Northwest Junior High SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Southeast Junior High SchoolA · 64% proficient
Top high schools
- Clear Creek Amana High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- West Senior High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Iowa City High SchoolA− · 66% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 52246 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
52246 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 52246 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Who 52246 suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in 52246
Is 52246 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 52246 ranks 5,171st of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on an educated workforce, biking, and state finances, and lowest on noise and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 52246 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $351,432. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $76,529 median income, cost of living beats 59% of zip codes.
Is 52246 safe?
Yes, 52246 is safer than 64% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $280 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in 52246?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 32 with lows near 16. That works out to about 91 pleasant days a year, more than 56% of zip codes.
Is 52246 good for families?
Schools beat 92% of zip codes, crime safety beats 64%, and childcare runs $773 a month.
Compare 52246 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 52246. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 52246 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.
52246 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 52246: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 52246: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 52246: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 52246: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
52246 detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.