Best PlacesHills, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hills, 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.
Hills ranks 15,334th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hills
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.
Hills' strengths and weaknesses
Where Hills ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute19.3 minutes each way, better than 90% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 84% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 83% of towns
Where Hills ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 16% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 22% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 23% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 33% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hills
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hills home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,633, 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 Hills' effective rate of 1.15%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hills
Hills'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 Hills.
Who works in Hills, and how
Work in Hills centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Hills
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hills.
What the weather is like in Hills, month by month
Hills sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 23° | 16° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Hills
The nearest airport, The Eastern Iowa, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 189 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hills
Schools across Hills average an A−, better than 83% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Weber ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Mid-prairie West Elem. SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Longfellow Elementary SchoolA− · 61% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mid-prairie Middle SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
- Highland Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Northwest Junior High SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- West Senior High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Highland High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Mid-prairie High SchoolA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hills school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hills 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 Hills against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hills
Is Hills a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hills ranks 15,334th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, short commutes, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on disaster risk and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hills expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $238,936. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $83,633 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Hills safe?
Yes, Hills is safer than 57% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $264 per resident a year.
Compare Hills with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hills. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hills 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.
Hills detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hills: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hills: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hills: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hills: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hills 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.