Best PlacesCrystal Lake, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Crystal Lake, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Crystal Lake ranks 13,487th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Crystal 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.
Crystal Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Crystal Lake ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 95% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 83% of towns
Where Crystal Lake ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 19% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 25% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 27% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 35% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Crystal Lake
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Crystal Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,215, 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 Crystal Lake's effective rate of 1.28%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Crystal Lake
Crystal 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 Crystal Lake.
Who works in Crystal Lake, and how
Work in Crystal Lake centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Crystal Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Crystal Lake.
What the weather is like in Crystal Lake, month by month
Crystal Lake sees roughly 119 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 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 | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 60° | 49° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Crystal Lake
The nearest airport, Mason City Municipal, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 118 miles away.
The best schools in and around Crystal Lake
Schools across Crystal Lake average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- West Hancock Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Forest City Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- North Iowa Elem Buffalo CenterA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- Garner-hayfield-ventura Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Forest City Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- North Iowa Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Forest City High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- West Hancock High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- North Iowa High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Crystal Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Crystal 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 Crystal Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Crystal Lake
Is Crystal Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Crystal Lake ranks 13,487th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, good schools, and state finances, 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 Crystal Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $124,543. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $68,215 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Crystal Lake safe?
Crystal Lake is safer than 25% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $381 per resident a year.
Compare Crystal Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Crystal Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Crystal 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.
Crystal Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Crystal Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Crystal Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Crystal Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Crystal Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Crystal 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.