Best PlacesDow City, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dow City, 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.
Dow City ranks 7,448th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dow City
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.
Dow City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dow City ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 90% of towns
- Short commute20.1 minutes each way, better than 87% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 87% of towns
Where Dow City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 9% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 21% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dow City
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dow City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,995, 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 Dow City's effective rate of 1.17%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Dow City
Dow City runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Dow City.
Who works in Dow City, and how
Work in Dow City centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Dow City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dow City.
What the weather is like in Dow City, month by month
Dow City sees roughly 112 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 22° | 14° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Dow City
Eppley Airfield sits about 48 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.6 million passengers in 2025, with 73 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Dow City
Schools across Dow City average an A, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Boyer Valley Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Irwin Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Harlan Intermediate SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ikm-manning Middle SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Harlan Community Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Denison Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- Harlan High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Woodbine High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Ikm-manning High SchoolA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dow City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dow City 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 Dow City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dow City
Is Dow City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dow City ranks 7,448th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, state finances, and good schools, and lowest on noise and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dow City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $158,848. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $71,995 median income, cost of living beats 63% of towns.
Is Dow City safe?
Yes, Dow City is safer than 97% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $143 per resident a year.
Compare Dow City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dow City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dow City 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.
Dow City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dow City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dow City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dow City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dow City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dow City 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.