Best PlacesDike, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dike, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Dike ranks 1,826th 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 Dike
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.
Dike's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dike ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 90% of towns
Where Dike ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 18% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 20% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 29% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 40% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dike
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dike home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $99,000, 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 Dike's 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 Dike
Dike'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 Dike.
Who works in Dike, and how
Work in Dike centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Dike
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dike.
What the weather is like in Dike, month by month
Dike sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 20° | 11° |
| April | 63° | 48° | 36° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 52° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Dike
The nearest airport, Waterloo Regional, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 170 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dike
Schools across Dike average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bess Streeter Aldrich ElementaryA+ · 84% proficient
- New Hartford Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Grundy Center Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dike-new Hartford Junior High SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Grundy Center Middle SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Holmes Junior High SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
Top high schools
- Cedar Falls High SchoolA · 76% proficient
- Hudson High SchoolA · 76% proficient
- Aplington-parkersburg High SchoolA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dike school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dike 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 Dike against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dike
Is Dike a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dike ranks 1,826th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, state finances, and low crime, and lowest on tree cover and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dike expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $270,940. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $99,000 median income, cost of living beats 87% of towns.
Is Dike safe?
Yes, Dike is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $165 per resident a year.
Compare Dike with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dike. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dike 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.
Dike detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dike: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dike: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dike: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dike: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dike 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.