Best PlacesBrayton, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brayton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Brayton ranks 13,168th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Brayton
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.
Brayton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Brayton ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 95% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 90% of towns
- Short commute19.7 minutes each way, better than 89% of towns
Where Brayton ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 28% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 30% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 31% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 33% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Brayton
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brayton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,586, 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 Brayton's effective rate of 1.01%, 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 Brayton
Brayton 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 Brayton.
Who works in Brayton, and how
Work in Brayton centers on manufacturing and agriculture & forestry. 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 Brayton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Brayton.
What the weather is like in Brayton, month by month
Brayton sees roughly 114 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 22° | 14° |
| April | 63° | 49° | 37° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 64° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Brayton
Eppley Airfield sits about 53 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.6 million passengers in 2025, with 73 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Brayton
Schools across Brayton average an A, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Schuler Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Washington Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Exira-elk Horn-kimballton ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- Iowa Connections Academy Middle SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
Top high schools
- Atlantic High SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Exiraelk Horn-kimballton High SchoolA− · 67% proficient
- Cam High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brayton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brayton 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 Brayton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Brayton
Is Brayton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brayton ranks 13,168th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, civic engagement, and state finances, and lowest on crime and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brayton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $165,229. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $78,586 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Brayton safe?
Brayton is safer than 7% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $584 per resident a year.
Compare Brayton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brayton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brayton 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.
Brayton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brayton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brayton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brayton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brayton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brayton 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.