Best PlacesGrundy County, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Grundy County, 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.
Grundy County ranks 83rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Grundy County
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 County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Grundy County ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 99% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 94% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 93% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of counties
Where Grundy County ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 16% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 26% of counties
- TransitBetter than only 35% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 36% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Grundy County
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Grundy County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $87,271, 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 County's effective rate of 1.20%, 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 9 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 County
Grundy County 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 Grundy County.
Who works in Grundy County, and how
Work in Grundy County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Grundy County
Grundy County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 84% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Grundy County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Grundy County growing, and who is moving in?
Grundy County has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Waterloo, IA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Grundy County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Grundy County, month by month
Grundy County sees roughly 101 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 County
The nearest airport, Waterloo Regional, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 174 miles away.
The best schools in and around Grundy County
Schools across Grundy County average an A, better than 99% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Bess Streeter Aldrich ElementaryA+ · 84% proficient
- New Hartford Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Grundy Center Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dike-new Hartford Junior High SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Grundy Center Middle SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Holmes Junior High SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
Top high schools
- Cedar Falls High SchoolA · 76% proficient
- Hudson High SchoolA · 76% proficient
- Aplington-parkersburg High SchoolA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Grundy County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Grundy County 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 County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Grundy County
Is Grundy County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Grundy County ranks 83rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on good schools, health care access, and low crime, and lowest on tree cover and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Grundy County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $199,425. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $87,271 median income, cost of living beats 93% of counties.
Is Grundy County safe?
Yes, Grundy County is safer than 94% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $207 per resident a year.
Compare Grundy County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Grundy County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Grundy County 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 County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Grundy County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Grundy County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Grundy County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Grundy County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Grundy County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.