Best PlacesGarden City, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Garden 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.
Garden City ranks 8,234th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Garden 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.
Garden City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Garden City ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 95% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 88% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of towns
Where Garden City ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Short commute32.6 minutes each way, better than only 22% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 24% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 24% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Garden City
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Garden City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,693, 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 Garden City's effective rate of 1.12%, 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 Garden City
Garden City 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 Garden City.
Who works in Garden City, and how
Work in Garden City centers on agriculture & forestry and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Garden City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Garden City.
What the weather is like in Garden City, month by month
Garden City sees roughly 111 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 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° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Garden City
The nearest airport, Fort Dodge Regional, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 144 miles away.
The best schools in and around Garden City
Schools across Garden City average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Roland-story Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Hubbard-radcliffe Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Colo-nesco Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Roland-story Middle SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- South Hardin Middle SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
- Nevada Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- South Hamilton Middle And High SchoolA · 77% proficient
- Roland-story High SchoolA · 77% proficient
- Colo-nesco Middle/high SchoolA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Garden City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Garden 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 Garden City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Garden City
Is Garden City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Garden City ranks 8,234th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, good schools, and state finances, and lowest on tree cover and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Garden City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $164,655. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $75,693 median income, cost of living beats 63% of towns.
Is Garden City safe?
Yes, Garden City is safer than 98% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $136 per resident a year.
Compare Garden City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Garden City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Garden 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.
Garden City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Garden City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Garden City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Garden City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Garden City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Garden 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.