Best PlacesClear Lake, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Clear Lake, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Clear Lake ranks 6,285th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Clear Lake
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.
Clear Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Clear Lake ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 93% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
Where Clear Lake ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 11% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 11% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 24% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 28% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Clear Lake
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Clear Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,426, 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 Clear Lake's effective rate of 1.11%, 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 Clear Lake
Clear Lake 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 Clear Lake.
Who works in Clear Lake, and how
Work in Clear Lake centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Clear Lake
Clear Lake has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of towns and more parkland per resident than 90% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Clear Lake and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Clear Lake, month by month
Clear Lake sees roughly 112 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 18° | 10° |
| April | 58° | 45° | 35° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 61° | 49° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Clear Lake
The nearest airport, Mason City Municipal, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 121 miles away.
The best schools in and around Clear Lake
Schools across Clear Lake average an A, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Garner-hayfield-ventura Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Clear Creek Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Forest City Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central Springs Middle SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Garner-hayfield-ventura Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Forest City Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
Top high schools
- Forest City High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Garner-hayfield-ventura High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Clear Lake High SchoolA · 69% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Clear Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Clear Lake 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 Clear Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Clear Lake
Is Clear Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Clear Lake ranks 6,285th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, cell coverage, and state finances, and lowest on noise and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Clear Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $272,860. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $76,426 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is Clear Lake safe?
Yes, Clear Lake is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $187 per resident a year.
Compare Clear Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Clear Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Clear Lake 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.
Clear Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Clear Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Clear Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Clear Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Clear Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Clear Lake 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.