Best PlacesCleghorn, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cleghorn, 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.
Cleghorn ranks 9,382nd 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 Cleghorn
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.
Cleghorn's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cleghorn ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 93% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 85% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 84% of towns
Where Cleghorn ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 11% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 31% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 35% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 37% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cleghorn
A household needs to earn about $36,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cleghorn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,817, 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 Cleghorn'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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cleghorn
Cleghorn 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 Cleghorn.
Who works in Cleghorn, and how
Work in Cleghorn centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Cleghorn
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cleghorn.
What the weather is like in Cleghorn, month by month
Cleghorn sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 20° | 12° |
| April | 60° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 63° | 49° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Cleghorn
The nearest airport, Sioux Gateway/Brig General Bud Day Field, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 103 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cleghorn
Schools across Cleghorn average an A, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mmcru Marcus ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- South O'brien Elem Sch Primghar CenterA− · 60% proficient
- Cherokee Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cherokee Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Washington High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Mmcru High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- River Valley Junior- Senior High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cleghorn school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cleghorn 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 Cleghorn against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cleghorn
Is Cleghorn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cleghorn ranks 9,382nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, good schools, and a stable housing market, and lowest on tree cover and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cleghorn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $135,285. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $68,817 median income, cost of living beats 62% of towns.
Is Cleghorn safe?
Yes, Cleghorn is safer than 74% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $219 per resident a year.
Compare Cleghorn with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cleghorn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cleghorn 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.
Cleghorn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cleghorn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cleghorn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cleghorn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cleghorn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cleghorn 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.