Best PlacesCarbon, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carbon, 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.
Carbon ranks 16,333rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Carbon
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.
Carbon's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carbon ranks high
- Short commute17.3 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 87% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 81% of towns
Where Carbon ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 10% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 11% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carbon
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carbon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,379, 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 Carbon's effective rate of 0.96%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Carbon
Carbon 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 Carbon.
Who works in Carbon, and how
Work in Carbon centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Carbon
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Carbon.
What the weather is like in Carbon, month by month
Carbon sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 24° | 17° |
| April | 65° | 52° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Carbon
Eppley Airfield sits about 58 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 Carbon
Schools across Carbon average an A−, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Corning Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Sylvia Enarson Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southwest Valley Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Cam Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Southwest Valley High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carbon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carbon 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 Carbon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carbon
Is Carbon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carbon ranks 16,333rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, state finances, and health care access, and lowest on biking and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Carbon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $156,900. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $71,379 median income, cost of living beats 74% of towns.
Is Carbon safe?
Yes, Carbon is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $249 per resident a year.
Compare Carbon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carbon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carbon 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.
Carbon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carbon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carbon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carbon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carbon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carbon 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.