Best PlacesDysart, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dysart, 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.
Dysart ranks 3,086th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Dysart
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.
Dysart's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dysart ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 95% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of towns
Where Dysart ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 21% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 30% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 33% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dysart
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dysart home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,696, 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 Dysart's effective rate of 1.27%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Dysart
Dysart 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 Dysart.
Who works in Dysart, and how
Work in Dysart centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Dysart
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dysart.
What the weather is like in Dysart, month by month
Dysart sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 23° | 16° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 66° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Dysart
The nearest airport, Waterloo Regional, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 192 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dysart
Schools across Dysart average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tilford Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Dysart-geneseo Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Keystone Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Vinton-shellsburg Middle SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Union Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Norway Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Vinton-shellsburg High SchoolA · 77% proficient
- Union High SchoolA · 71% proficient
- Benton Community Senior High SchoolA · 69% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dysart school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dysart 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 Dysart against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dysart
Is Dysart a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dysart ranks 3,086th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, civic engagement, and good schools, 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 Dysart expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $182,390. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $76,696 median income, cost of living beats 75% of towns.
Is Dysart safe?
Yes, Dysart is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $197 per resident a year.
Compare Dysart with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dysart. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dysart 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.
Dysart detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dysart: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dysart: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dysart: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dysart: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dysart 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.