Best PlacesBoone County, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Boone 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.
Boone County ranks 189th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Boone 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.
Boone County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Boone County ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 92% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of counties
Where Boone County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 19% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 19% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 29% of counties
- TransitBetter than only 35% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Boone County
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Boone County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $86,349, 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 Boone 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 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 Boone County
Boone County 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 Boone County.
Who works in Boone County, and how
Work in Boone County centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Boone County
Boone County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 92% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Boone County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Boone County growing, and who is moving in?
Boone County has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Ames, IA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Boone County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Boone County, month by month
Boone County sees roughly 102 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 15° |
| April | 61° | 49° | 39° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Boone County
The nearest airport, Des Moines International, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 115 miles away.
The best schools in and around Boone County
Schools across Boone County average an A−, better than 92% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Gilbert Intermediate SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Roland-story Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- South Hamilton ElemA+ · 77% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gilbert Middle SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
- North Polk Middle SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Ballard Middle SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
Top high schools
- Gilbert High SchoolA+ · 89% proficient
- North Polk High SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Woodward-granger High SchoolA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Boone County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Boone 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 Boone County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Boone County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 89% of counties and 10% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 62% of counties and health care access beats 92%.
Common questions about living in Boone County
Is Boone County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Boone County ranks 189th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low crime, civic engagement, and good schools, and lowest on property taxes and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Boone County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $233,369. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $86,349 median income, cost of living beats 89% of counties.
Is Boone County safe?
Yes, Boone County is safer than 99% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $168 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Boone County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 29 with lows near 15. That works out to about 102 pleasant days a year, more than 62% of counties.
Is Boone County good for families?
Schools beat 92% of counties, crime safety beats 99%, and childcare runs $712 a month.
Compare Boone County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Boone County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Boone 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.
Boone County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Boone County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Boone County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Boone County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Boone County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Boone 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.