Best PlacesBlack Hawk County, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Black Hawk County, 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.
Black Hawk County ranks 270th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on fast internet and biking. The weaker spots are noise, property taxes, and air quality.
The best neighborhoods in Black Hawk County
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.
The best areas in Black Hawk County
The parts of Black Hawk County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Hudson
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and it is quieter.
Cedar Falls
Crime runs lower, though fewer households have young kids.
Evansdale & La Porte City
Biking is worse and fewer adults hold degrees.
Waterloo
Streets are more walkable, though fewer residents vote.
Black Hawk County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 5% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Black Hawk County's strengths and weaknesses
Black Hawk County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Fast internet, biking, and short commutes carry most of that.
The one real hole is noise, near the bottom of the country. Property taxes and air quality also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Black Hawk County ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of counties
- BikingBetter than 96% of counties
- Short commute15.8 minutes each way, better than 94% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 92% of counties
Where Black Hawk County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 5% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 24% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 36% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 39% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Black Hawk County
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Black Hawk County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,838, 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 Black Hawk County's effective rate of 1.38%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Black Hawk County
Black Hawk County 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 Black Hawk County.
Who works in Black Hawk County, and how
Work in Black Hawk County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Black Hawk County
Black Hawk County has more parkland per resident than 97% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 82% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Black Hawk County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Black Hawk County growing, and who is moving in?
Black Hawk County has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Des Moines, IA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Black Hawk County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Black Hawk County, month by month
Black Hawk County sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 20° | 11° |
| April | 63° | 48° | 36° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 52° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Black Hawk County
The nearest airport, Waterloo Regional, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 171 miles away.
The best schools in and around Black Hawk County
Schools across Black Hawk County average an A−, better than 92% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- La Porte City Elementary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Helen A Hansen Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Bess Streeter Aldrich ElementaryA+ · 84% proficient
Top middle schools
- Denver Middle SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Dike-new Hartford Junior High SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Vinton-shellsburg Middle SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
Top high schools
- Denver Senior High SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
- Vinton-shellsburg High SchoolA · 77% proficient
- Cedar Falls High SchoolA · 76% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Black Hawk County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Black Hawk County 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 Black Hawk County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Black Hawk County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 9% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Black Hawk County
Is Black Hawk County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Black Hawk County ranks 270th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on fast internet, biking, and short commutes, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Black Hawk County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $203,126. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $72,838 median income, cost of living beats 74% of counties.
Is Black Hawk County safe?
Yes, Black Hawk County is safer than 76% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $300 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Black Hawk County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 31 with lows near 11. That works out to about 88 pleasant days a year, more than 50% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Black Hawk County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Hudson, Cedar Falls, and Evansdale & La Porte City. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Black Hawk County good for families?
Schools beat 92% of counties, crime safety beats 76%, and childcare runs $736 a month.
Is Black Hawk County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 96% of counties. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Black Hawk County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Black Hawk County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Black Hawk County 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.
Black Hawk County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Black Hawk County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Black Hawk County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Black Hawk County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Black Hawk County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Black Hawk County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.