Best PlacesHarcourt, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Harcourt, 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.
Harcourt ranks 10,869th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Harcourt
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.
Harcourt's strengths and weaknesses
Where Harcourt ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 92% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 84% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of towns
Where Harcourt ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 13% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 29% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 30% of towns
- Household income$66,475 median, better than only 40% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Harcourt
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harcourt home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,475, 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 Harcourt's effective rate of 1.01%, 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 Harcourt
Harcourt runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, 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 Harcourt.
Who works in Harcourt, and how
Work in Harcourt centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Harcourt
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Harcourt.
What the weather is like in Harcourt, month by month
Harcourt sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 20° | 12° |
| April | 61° | 48° | 37° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Harcourt
The nearest airport, Fort Dodge Regional, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 110 miles away.
The best schools in and around Harcourt
Schools across Harcourt average an A, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Prairie Valley Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Dayton CenterA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southeast Webster-grand Southeast Valley MiddleA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Southeast Valley High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Harcourt school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harcourt 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 Harcourt against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Harcourt
Is Harcourt a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harcourt ranks 10,869th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, good schools, and a stable housing market, and lowest on air quality and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Harcourt expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $168,822. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $66,475 median income, cost of living beats 43% of towns.
Is Harcourt safe?
Yes, Harcourt is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $244 per resident a year.
Compare Harcourt with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harcourt. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harcourt 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.
Harcourt detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harcourt: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harcourt: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harcourt: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harcourt: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harcourt 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.