Best PlacesGrundy Center, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Grundy Center, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Grundy Center ranks 2,322nd 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 Grundy Center
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.
Grundy Center's strengths and weaknesses
Where Grundy Center ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 90% of towns
Where Grundy Center ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 12% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 20% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 23% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 29% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 37% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Grundy Center
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Grundy Center home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,485, 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 Grundy Center's effective rate of 1.43%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Grundy Center
Grundy Center's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Grundy Center.
Who works in Grundy Center, and how
Work in Grundy Center centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Grundy Center
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Grundy Center.
What the weather is like in Grundy Center, month by month
Grundy Center sees roughly 109 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 13° |
| April | 61° | 48° | 37° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Grundy Center
The nearest airport, Waterloo Regional, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 176 miles away.
The best schools in and around Grundy Center
Schools across Grundy Center average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Grundy Center Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Dike Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Bcluw Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Grundy Center Middle SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Agwsr Middle SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Bcluw Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Grundy Center High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Gladbrook-reinbeck Jr. High & High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Dike-new Hartford High SchoolA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Grundy Center school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Grundy Center 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 Grundy Center against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Grundy Center
Is Grundy Center a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Grundy Center ranks 2,322nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, walkability, and state finances, 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 Grundy Center expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $180,973. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $79,485 median income, cost of living beats 80% of towns.
Is Grundy Center safe?
Yes, Grundy Center is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $190 per resident a year.
Compare Grundy Center with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Grundy Center. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Grundy Center 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.
Grundy Center detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Grundy Center: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Grundy Center: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Grundy Center: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Grundy Center: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Grundy Center 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.