Best PlacesGarrison, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Garrison, 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.
Garrison ranks 6,634th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Garrison
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.
Garrison's strengths and weaknesses
Where Garrison ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 97% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 97% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 90% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 86% of towns
Where Garrison ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 13% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 22% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 22% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 23% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 34% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Garrison
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Garrison home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,617, 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 Garrison's effective rate of 1.13%, 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 Garrison
Garrison'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 Garrison.
Who works in Garrison, and how
Work in Garrison centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Garrison
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Garrison.
What the weather is like in Garrison, month by month
Garrison sees roughly 92 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 Garrison
The nearest airport, The Eastern Iowa, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 197 miles away.
The best schools in and around Garrison
Schools across Garrison average an A+, better than 97% 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 Garrison school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Garrison 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 Garrison against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Garrison
Is Garrison a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Garrison ranks 6,634th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, good schools, and state finances, and lowest on internet speeds and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Garrison expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $169,019. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $82,617 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Garrison safe?
Garrison is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $322 per resident a year.
Compare Garrison with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Garrison. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Garrison 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.
Garrison detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Garrison: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Garrison: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Garrison: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Garrison: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Garrison 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.