Best PlacesCedar Rapids, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Cedar Rapids metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime read low across the board, which puts the choice down to which part suits you. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Kepper66, CC BY-SA 3.0, via commons
Cedar Rapids ranks 33rd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It earns the spot by being affordable and steady rather than flashy: everyday costs run well below the national average, and crime is low. The trade is internet speeds: the nearest large city and its jobs, flights, and culture are a drive away.
The best neighborhoods in the Cedar Rapids metro
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 Cedar Rapids
The towns and districts of the Cedar Rapids metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Atkins & Palo
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and it is quieter.
Mount Vernon, Ely & Lisbon
Schools score higher, though biking is worse.
Marion
More households have young kids and crime runs lower.
Downtown Cedar Rapids
More adults hold degrees.
Anamosa, Monticello & Central City
More residents vote, though commutes are longer.
Vinton, Center Point & Urbana
Scores close to Anamosa, Monticello & Central City, except that tree cover is thinner here.
Fairfax & Belle Plaine
Cedar Rapids shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 7% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Cedar Rapids' strengths and weaknesses
Cedar Rapids ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. State finances, good schools, and low crime carry most of that.
The one real hole is internet speeds, near the bottom of the country. Noise and property taxes also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Cedar Rapids ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 95% of metro areas
- School gradeA−, better than 92% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than 89% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than 89% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than 89% of metro areas
Where Cedar Rapids ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than only 10% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than only 26% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than only 27% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Cedar Rapids
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cedar Rapids home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $87,230, 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 Cedar Rapids' effective rate of 1.45%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cedar Rapids
Cedar Rapids's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cedar Rapids.
Who works in Cedar Rapids, and how
Work in Cedar Rapids centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Cedar Rapids
Cedar Rapids has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and more parkland per resident than 85% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cedar Rapids and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Cedar Rapids growing, and who is moving in?
Cedar Rapids has grown about 5% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Iowa City, IA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Cedar Rapids go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Cedar Rapids, month by month
Cedar Rapids sees roughly 108 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 61° | 49° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Cedar Rapids
The nearest airport, The Eastern Iowa, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 194 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cedar Rapids
Schools across Cedar Rapids average an A−, better than 92% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Washington Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Westfield Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Viola Gibson Elementary SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mount Vernon Middle SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Oak Ridge SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Center Point-urbana Middle SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top high schools
- Mount Vernon High SchoolA · 79% proficient
- Linn-mar High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Center Point-urbana High SchoolA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cedar Rapids school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cedar Rapids 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 Cedar Rapids against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Cedar Rapids suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 85% of metro areas and 14% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 65% of metro areas and health care access beats 89%.
Common questions about living in Cedar Rapids
Is Cedar Rapids a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cedar Rapids ranks 33rd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on state finances, good schools, and low crime, and lowest on internet speeds and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cedar Rapids expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $225,836. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $87,230 median income, cost of living beats 85% of metro areas.
Is Cedar Rapids safe?
Yes, Cedar Rapids is safer than 89% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $230 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cedar Rapids?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 29 with lows near 14. That works out to about 108 pleasant days a year, more than 65% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Cedar Rapids?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Atkins & Palo, Mount Vernon, Ely & Lisbon, and Marion. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Cedar Rapids good for families?
Schools beat 92% of metro areas, crime safety beats 89%, and childcare runs $721 a month.
Is Cedar Rapids good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 85% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 1% of metro areas. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Cedar Rapids with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cedar Rapids. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cedar Rapids 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.
Cedar Rapids detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cedar Rapids: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cedar Rapids: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cedar Rapids: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cedar Rapids: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cedar Rapids 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.