Best PlacesCollins, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Collins, 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.
Collins ranks 3,343rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Collins
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.
Collins' strengths and weaknesses
Where Collins ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 93% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 85% of towns
Where Collins ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 18% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 20% of towns
- Short commute31.8 minutes each way, better than only 25% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 30% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 39% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Collins
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Collins home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $93,607, 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 Collins' effective rate of 1.25%, 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 Collins
Collins'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 Collins.
Who works in Collins, and how
Work in Collins centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Collins
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Collins.
What the weather is like in Collins, month by month
Collins sees roughly 103 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 63° | 49° | 39° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 65° | 52° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Collins
The nearest airport, Des Moines International, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 140 miles away.
The best schools in and around Collins
Schools across Collins average an A, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Baxter Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- West Marshall Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Colfax-mingo Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Marshall Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Bondurant - Farrar Intermediate SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
- Nevada Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- West Marshall High SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Bondurant-farrar High SchoolA · 76% proficient
- Nevada High SchoolA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Collins school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Collins 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 Collins against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Collins
Is Collins a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Collins ranks 3,343rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, low crime, and good schools, and lowest on property taxes and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Collins expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $237,176. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $93,607 median income, cost of living beats 85% of towns.
Is Collins safe?
Yes, Collins is safer than 94% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $156 per resident a year.
Compare Collins with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Collins. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Collins 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.
Collins detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Collins: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Collins: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Collins: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Collins: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Collins 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.