Best PlacesEly, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ely, 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.
Ely ranks 1,501st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ely
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.
Ely's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ely ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Household income$115,287 median, better than 92% of towns
Where Ely ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 11% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 26% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 30% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 35% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ely
A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ely home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $115,287, 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 Ely'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 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 Ely
Ely runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ely.
Who works in Ely, and how
Work in Ely centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Ely
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ely.
What the weather is like in Ely, month by month
Ely sees roughly 109 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 61° | 49° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Ely
The nearest airport, The Eastern Iowa, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 189 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ely
Schools across Ely average an A−, better than 89% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Washington Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Lakeview ElementaryA+ · 78% proficient
- Prairie Hill Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Solon Middle SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Mount Vernon Middle SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Prairie CreekA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Solon High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Mount Vernon High SchoolA · 79% proficient
- Prairie High SchoolA · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ely school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ely 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 Ely against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ely
Is Ely a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ely ranks 1,501st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, low crime, and population health, and lowest on internet speeds and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ely expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $308,860. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $115,287 median income, cost of living beats 91% of towns.
Is Ely safe?
Yes, Ely is safer than 98% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $130 per resident a year.
Compare Ely with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ely. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ely 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.
Ely detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ely: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ely: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ely: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ely: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ely 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.