Best PlacesArnolds Park, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Arnolds Park, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Arnolds Park ranks 992nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Arnolds Park
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.
Arnolds Park's strengths and weaknesses
Where Arnolds Park ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute13.3 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 97% of towns
Where Arnolds Park ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 17% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 21% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Arnolds Park
A household needs to earn about $102,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Arnolds Park home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $90,656, 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 Arnolds Park's effective rate of 0.77%, 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 Arnolds Park
Arnolds Park 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 Arnolds Park.
Who works in Arnolds Park, and how
Work in Arnolds Park centers on health care & social and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Arnolds Park
Arnolds Park has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Arnolds Park and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Arnolds Park, month by month
Arnolds Park sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 19° | 10° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 36° |
| July | 86° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 63° | 50° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Arnolds Park
The nearest airport, Fort Dodge Regional, is about 74 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 141 miles away.
The best schools in and around Arnolds Park
Schools across Arnolds Park average an A+, better than 97% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Okoboji Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Spirit Lake Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Okoboji Middle SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Spirit Lake Middle SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
Top high schools
- Spirit Lake High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Okoboji High SchoolA · 76% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Arnolds Park school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Arnolds Park 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 Arnolds Park against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Arnolds Park
Is Arnolds Park a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Arnolds Park ranks 992nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, health care access, and civic engagement, and lowest on empty homes and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Arnolds Park expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $390,438. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $90,656 median income, cost of living beats 93% of towns.
Is Arnolds Park safe?
Yes, Arnolds Park is safer than 81% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $221 per resident a year.
Compare Arnolds Park with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Arnolds Park. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Arnolds Park 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.
Arnolds Park detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Arnolds Park: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Arnolds Park: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Arnolds Park: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Arnolds Park: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Arnolds Park 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.