Best PlacesGranger, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Granger, 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.
Granger ranks 241st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Granger
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.
Granger's strengths and weaknesses
Where Granger ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 96% of towns
- Household income$137,092 median, better than 96% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
Where Granger ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 26% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 35% of towns
- TransitBetter than only 44% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 47% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Granger
A household needs to earn about $117,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Granger home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $137,092, 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 Granger's effective rate of 1.50%, 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 Granger
Granger runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Granger.
Who works in Granger, and how
Work in Granger centers on finance & insurance and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Granger
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Granger.
What the weather is like in Granger, month by month
Granger sees roughly 97 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 23° | 16° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Granger
The nearest airport, Des Moines International, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 113 miles away.
The best schools in and around Granger
Schools across Granger average an A+, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Woodward-granger Elementary SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- North Polk Central Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Horizon ElementaryA · 66% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Polk Middle SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Woodward-granger Middle SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Summit Middle SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
Top high schools
- North Polk High SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Woodward-granger High SchoolA · 78% proficient
- Johnston Senior High SchoolA · 76% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Granger school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Granger 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 Granger against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Granger
Is Granger a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Granger ranks 241st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, cell coverage, and good schools, and lowest on property taxes and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Granger expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $410,400. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $137,092 median income, cost of living beats 99% of towns.
Is Granger safe?
Yes, Granger is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $146 per resident a year.
Compare Granger with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Granger. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Granger 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.
Granger detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Granger: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Granger: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Granger: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Granger: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Granger 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.