Best PlacesGuthrie County, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Guthrie 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.
Guthrie County ranks 319th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Guthrie 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.
Guthrie County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Guthrie County ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of counties
- School gradeA, better than 96% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of counties
Where Guthrie County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 21% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 23% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 24% of counties
- Short commute27.1 minutes each way, better than only 30% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 35% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Guthrie County
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Guthrie County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,519, 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 Guthrie County's effective rate of 1.16%, 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 Guthrie County
Guthrie 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 Guthrie County.
Who works in Guthrie County, and how
Work in Guthrie 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 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Guthrie County
Guthrie County has more parkland per resident than 91% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Guthrie County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Guthrie County growing, and who is moving in?
Guthrie County has grown about 1% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Des Moines, IA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Guthrie County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Guthrie County, month by month
Guthrie County sees roughly 98 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 22° | 13° |
| April | 64° | 49° | 37° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Guthrie County
The nearest airport, Des Moines International, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 80 miles away.
The best schools in and around Guthrie County
Schools across Guthrie County average an A, better than 96% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Cr-b Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Guthrie Center Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Audubon Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Panorama Middle SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Adair-casey Jr. High SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
- West Central Valley Middle SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
Top high schools
- Guthrie Center High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Exiraelk Horn-kimballton High SchoolA− · 67% proficient
- Panorama High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Guthrie County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Guthrie 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 Guthrie County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Guthrie County
Is Guthrie County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Guthrie County ranks 319th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on health care access, low crime, and good schools, and lowest on property taxes and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Guthrie County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $180,306. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $79,519 median income, cost of living beats 92% of counties.
Is Guthrie County safe?
Yes, Guthrie County is safer than 96% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $189 per resident a year.
Compare Guthrie County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Guthrie County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Guthrie 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.
Guthrie County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Guthrie County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Guthrie County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Guthrie County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Guthrie County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Guthrie 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.