Best PlacesHarpers Ferry, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Harpers Ferry, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Harpers Ferry ranks 25,585th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Harpers Ferry
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.
Harpers Ferry's strengths and weaknesses
Where Harpers Ferry ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 87% of towns
Where Harpers Ferry ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute32.8 minutes each way, better than only 21% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 34% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Harpers Ferry
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harpers Ferry home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,682, 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 Harpers Ferry's effective rate of 0.80%, 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 Harpers Ferry
Harpers Ferry 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 Harpers Ferry.
Who works in Harpers Ferry, and how
Work in Harpers Ferry centers on other services and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Harpers Ferry
Harpers Ferry has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Harpers Ferry and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Harpers Ferry, month by month
Harpers Ferry sees roughly 116 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 15° |
| April | 59° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 62° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Harpers Ferry
The nearest airport, La Crosse Regional, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 154 miles away.
The best schools in and around Harpers Ferry
Schools across Harpers Ferry average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- New Albin Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Mfl Marmac Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Mcgregor Intermediate SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lansing Middle SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Waukon Middle SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
Top high schools
- Waukon High SchoolA · 79% proficient
- Kee High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Mfl Marmac HsA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Harpers Ferry school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harpers Ferry 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 Harpers Ferry against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Harpers Ferry
Is Harpers Ferry a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harpers Ferry ranks 25,585th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, state finances, and low crime, and lowest on noise and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Harpers Ferry expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $237,538. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $65,682 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Harpers Ferry safe?
Yes, Harpers Ferry is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $173 per resident a year.
Compare Harpers Ferry with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harpers Ferry. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harpers Ferry 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.
Harpers Ferry detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harpers Ferry: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harpers Ferry: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harpers Ferry: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harpers Ferry: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harpers Ferry 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.