Best PlacesCraig, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Craig, 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.
Craig ranks 5,374th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Craig
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.
Craig's strengths and weaknesses
Where Craig ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 89% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 89% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 82% of towns
Where Craig ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 21% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Craig
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Craig home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $89,776, 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 Craig's effective rate of 1.14%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Craig
Craig'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 Craig.
Who works in Craig, and how
Work in Craig centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 62%
- Work from home 35%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Craig
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Craig.
What the weather is like in Craig, month by month
Craig sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 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 | 61° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 63° | 50° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Craig
The nearest airport, Sioux Gateway/Brig General Bud Day Field, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 112 miles away.
The best schools in and around Craig
Schools across Craig average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hospers Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Kluckhohn Elementary SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Akron Westfield Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Moc-floyd Valley Middle SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Akron Westfield Middle SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Le Mars Middle SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Moc-floyd Valley High SchoolA · 74% proficient
- Le Mars High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Akron Westfield Senior High SchoolA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Craig school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Craig 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 Craig against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Craig
Is Craig a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Craig ranks 5,374th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, state finances, and quiet, and lowest on tree cover and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Craig expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $186,747. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $89,776 median income, cost of living beats 80% of towns.
Is Craig safe?
Craig is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $298 per resident a year.
Compare Craig with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Craig. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Craig 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.
Craig detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Craig: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Craig: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Craig: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Craig: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Craig 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.