Best PlacesHiawatha, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hiawatha, 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.
Hiawatha ranks 3,546th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hiawatha
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.
Hiawatha's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hiawatha ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute16.0 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
Where Hiawatha ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 22% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 23% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hiawatha
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hiawatha home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $87,065, 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 Hiawatha's effective rate of 1.61%, 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 Hiawatha
Hiawatha runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hiawatha.
Who works in Hiawatha, and how
Work in Hiawatha centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Hiawatha
Hiawatha has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of towns and more parkland per resident than 95% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hiawatha and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hiawatha, month by month
Hiawatha sees roughly 111 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 61° | 49° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Hiawatha
The nearest airport, The Eastern Iowa, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 194 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hiawatha
Schools across Hiawatha average an A−, better than 88% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Viola Gibson Elementary SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Alburnett Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Hiawatha Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Alburnett Middle SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
- Harding Middle SchoolA · 64% proficient
Top high schools
- John F Kennedy High SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Alburnett Senior High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hiawatha school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hiawatha 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 Hiawatha against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hiawatha
Is Hiawatha a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hiawatha ranks 3,546th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, short commutes, and cell coverage, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hiawatha expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $238,317. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $87,065 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Hiawatha safe?
Yes, Hiawatha is safer than 88% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $186 per resident a year.
Compare Hiawatha with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hiawatha. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hiawatha 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.
Hiawatha detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hiawatha: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hiawatha: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hiawatha: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hiawatha: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hiawatha 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.