Best PlacesGravity, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gravity, 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.
Gravity ranks 7,920th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Gravity
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.
Gravity's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gravity ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 93% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 90% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of towns
Where Gravity ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 19% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 21% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 25% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gravity
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gravity home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $89,679, 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 Gravity's effective rate of 1.07%, 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 Gravity
Gravity'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 Gravity.
Who works in Gravity, and how
Work in Gravity centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Gravity
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Gravity.
What the weather is like in Gravity, month by month
Gravity sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 25° | 17° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Gravity
Eppley Airfield sits about 70 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.6 million passengers in 2025, with 73 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Gravity
Schools across Gravity average an A−, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bedford Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Lenox Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Garfield Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southwest Valley Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- Mount Ayr High SchoolA · 71% proficient
- Lenox High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Clarinda High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gravity school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gravity 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 Gravity against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gravity
Is Gravity a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gravity ranks 7,920th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, quiet, and good schools, and lowest on cell coverage and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gravity expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $200,764. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $89,679 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Gravity safe?
Gravity is safer than 55% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $265 per resident a year.
Compare Gravity with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gravity. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gravity 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.
Gravity detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gravity: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gravity: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gravity: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gravity: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gravity 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.