Best PlacesBoxholm, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Boxholm, 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.
Boxholm ranks 8,587th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Boxholm
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.
Boxholm's strengths and weaknesses
Where Boxholm ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 88% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of towns
Where Boxholm ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute36.4 minutes each way, better than only 11% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 25% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 34% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Boxholm
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Boxholm home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,996, 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 Boxholm's effective rate of 1.31%, 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 Boxholm
Boxholm 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 Boxholm.
Who works in Boxholm, and how
Work in Boxholm centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Boxholm
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Boxholm.
What the weather is like in Boxholm, month by month
Boxholm sees roughly 111 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 Boxholm
The nearest airport, Fort Dodge Regional, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 110 miles away.
The best schools in and around Boxholm
Schools across Boxholm average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dayton CenterA+ · 75% proficient
- Paton-churdan ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ogden Middle SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Southeast Webster-grand Southeast Valley MiddleA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Ogden High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Southeast Valley High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Perry High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Boxholm school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Boxholm 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 Boxholm against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Boxholm
Is Boxholm a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Boxholm ranks 8,587th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, good schools, and quiet, and lowest on tree cover and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Boxholm expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $244,377. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $81,996 median income, cost of living beats 75% of towns.
Is Boxholm safe?
Yes, Boxholm is safer than 87% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $179 per resident a year.
Compare Boxholm with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Boxholm. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Boxholm 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.
Boxholm detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Boxholm: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Boxholm: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Boxholm: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Boxholm: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Boxholm 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.