Best PlacesGarnavillo, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Garnavillo, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Garnavillo ranks 17,078th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Garnavillo
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.
Garnavillo's strengths and weaknesses
Where Garnavillo ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 95% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute19.3 minutes each way, better than 90% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 81% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 80% of towns
Where Garnavillo ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 26% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 27% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 28% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 30% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Garnavillo
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Garnavillo home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,790, 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 Garnavillo's effective rate of 1.08%, 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 Garnavillo
Garnavillo 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 Garnavillo.
Who works in Garnavillo, and how
Work in Garnavillo 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 78%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Garnavillo
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Garnavillo.
What the weather is like in Garnavillo, month by month
Garnavillo sees roughly 116 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 15° |
| April | 59° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 62° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Garnavillo
The nearest airport, Dubuque Regional, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 168 miles away.
The best schools in and around Garnavillo
Schools across Garnavillo average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Clayton Ridge Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Mfl Marmac Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Mcgregor Intermediate SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clayton Ridge Middle SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Clayton Ridge High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Mfl Marmac HsA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Garnavillo school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Garnavillo 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 Garnavillo against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Garnavillo
Is Garnavillo a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Garnavillo ranks 17,078th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, state finances, and short commutes, and lowest on property taxes and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Garnavillo expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $169,092. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $64,790 median income, cost of living beats 46% of towns.
Is Garnavillo safe?
Garnavillo is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $295 per resident a year.
Compare Garnavillo with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Garnavillo. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Garnavillo 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.
Garnavillo detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Garnavillo: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Garnavillo: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Garnavillo: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Garnavillo: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Garnavillo 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.