Best PlacesCornelia, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cornelia, 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.
Cornelia ranks 6,036th 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 Cornelia
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.
Cornelia's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cornelia ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 88% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of towns
- QuietBetter than 84% of towns
Where Cornelia ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 13% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 15% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cornelia
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cornelia home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,000, 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 Cornelia's effective rate of 1.05%, 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 Cornelia
Cornelia 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 Cornelia.
Who works in Cornelia, and how
Work in Cornelia 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 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Cornelia
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cornelia.
What the weather is like in Cornelia, month by month
Cornelia sees roughly 117 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 27, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 27° | 19° | 11° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 63° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Cornelia
The nearest airport, Fort Dodge Regional, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 146 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cornelia
Schools across Cornelia average an A−, better than 88% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Richard O. Jacobson Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Clarion-goldfield-dows Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clarion-goldfield-dows Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
Top high schools
- Clarion-goldfield-dows High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
- Belmond-klemme Community Jr-sr High SchoolA− · 59% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cornelia school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cornelia 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 Cornelia against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cornelia
Is Cornelia a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cornelia ranks 6,036th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, low crime, and good schools, and lowest on tree cover and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cornelia expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $218,265. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $77,000 median income, cost of living beats 81% of towns.
Is Cornelia safe?
Yes, Cornelia is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $168 per resident a year.
Compare Cornelia with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cornelia. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cornelia 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.
Cornelia detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cornelia: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cornelia: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cornelia: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cornelia: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cornelia 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.