Best PlacesDows, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dows, 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.
Dows ranks 13,636th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dows
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.
Dows' strengths and weaknesses
Where Dows ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 87% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of towns
Where Dows ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dows
A household needs to earn about $24,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dows home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,093, 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 Dows' effective rate of 1.69%, 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 Dows
Dows'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 Dows.
Who works in Dows, and how
Work in Dows centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Dows
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dows.
What the weather is like in Dows, month by month
Dows 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 Dows
The nearest airport, Fort Dodge Regional, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 154 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dows
Schools across Dows average an A−, better than 87% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Northeast Hamilton Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- South Side Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Richard O. Jacobson Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clarion-goldfield-dows Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Riverbend Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
- Hampton-dumont Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
Top high schools
- Iowa Falls - Alden High SchoolA · 69% proficient
- 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 Dows school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dows 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 Dows against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dows
Is Dows a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dows ranks 13,636th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, walkability, and a stable housing market, and lowest on property taxes and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dows expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $80,973. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $74,093 median income, cost of living beats 65% of towns.
Is Dows safe?
Yes, Dows is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $191 per resident a year.
Compare Dows with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dows. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dows 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.
Dows detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dows: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dows: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dows: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dows: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dows 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.