Best PlacesAnamosa, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Anamosa, 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.
Anamosa ranks 12,353rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Anamosa
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.
Anamosa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Anamosa ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 87% of towns
- BikingBetter than 83% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 80% of towns
Where Anamosa ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 23% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 27% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 38% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 40% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Anamosa
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Anamosa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,929, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Anamosa's effective rate of 1.13%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Anamosa
Anamosa runs older 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 Anamosa.
Who works in Anamosa, and how
Work in Anamosa centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Anamosa
Anamosa has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Anamosa and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Anamosa, month by month
Anamosa sees roughly 109 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Anamosa
The nearest airport, The Eastern Iowa, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 173 miles away.
The best schools in and around Anamosa
Schools across Anamosa average an A−, better than 87% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Strawberry HillA− · 58% proficient
- Central City Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Olin Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Monticello Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Anamosa Middle SchoolA · 62% proficient
Top high schools
- Mount Vernon High SchoolA · 79% proficient
- Lisbon SecondaryA · 78% proficient
- Monticello High SchoolA− · 66% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Anamosa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Anamosa 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 Anamosa against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Anamosa
Is Anamosa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Anamosa ranks 12,353rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, state finances, and good schools, and lowest on property taxes and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Anamosa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $216,217. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $69,929 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is Anamosa safe?
Yes, Anamosa is safer than 67% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $245 per resident a year.
Compare Anamosa with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Anamosa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Anamosa 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.
Anamosa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Anamosa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Anamosa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Anamosa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Anamosa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Anamosa 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.