Best PlacesHavelock, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Havelock, 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.
Havelock ranks 25,251st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Havelock
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.
Havelock's strengths and weaknesses
Where Havelock ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 91% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 123 pleasant days a year, better than 82% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of towns
Where Havelock ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 16% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 23% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Havelock
A household needs to earn about $22,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Havelock home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,822, 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 Havelock's effective rate of 1.11%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Havelock
Havelock'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 Havelock.
Who works in Havelock, and how
Work in Havelock centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Havelock
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Havelock.
What the weather is like in Havelock, month by month
Havelock sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 27, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 27° | 19° | 12° |
| April | 58° | 46° | 37° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 62° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Havelock
The nearest airport, Fort Dodge Regional, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 122 miles away.
The best schools in and around Havelock
Schools across Havelock average an A, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- West Bend-mallard Elementary SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- Pocahontas Area Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Laurens-marathon Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Bend-mallard Middle SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Cam Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- West Bend-mallard High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Pocahontas Area Middle/ High SchoolA− · 67% proficient
- Cam High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Havelock school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Havelock 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 Havelock against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Havelock
Is Havelock a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Havelock ranks 25,251st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, state finances, and good schools, and lowest on tree cover and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Havelock expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $80,796. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $60,822 median income, cost of living beats 44% of towns.
Is Havelock safe?
Yes, Havelock is safer than 65% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $238 per resident a year.
Compare Havelock with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Havelock. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Havelock 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.
Havelock detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Havelock: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Havelock: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Havelock: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Havelock: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Havelock 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.