Best PlacesIowa Colony, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Iowa Colony, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Iowa Colony ranks 3,669th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Iowa Colony
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.
Iowa Colony's strengths and weaknesses
Where Iowa Colony ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$168,769 median, better than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
Where Iowa Colony ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 11% of towns
- Short commute35.7 minutes each way, better than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Iowa Colony
A household needs to earn about $135,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Iowa Colony home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $168,769, 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 Iowa Colony's effective rate of 2.05%, 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 Iowa Colony
Iowa Colony runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Iowa Colony.
Who works in Iowa Colony, and how
Work in Iowa Colony centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Iowa Colony
The coast is about 37 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Iowa Colony, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Iowa Colony, month by month
Iowa Colony sees roughly 106 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 65, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 65° | 54° | 45° |
| April | 80° | 70° | 60° |
| July | 94° | 83° | 74° |
| October | 84° | 71° | 62° |
Flying in and out of Iowa Colony
William P Hobby sits about 15 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.8 million passengers in 2025, with 101 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Iowa Colony
Schools across Iowa Colony average a B, better than 65% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pomona ElB · 47% proficient
- Don Jeter ElC+ · 39% proficient
- Meridiana ElC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dr Ronald E Mcnair J HA · 59% proficient
- Billy Baines MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Rodeo Palms J HB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Ridge Point H SA · 69% proficient
- Shadow Creek H SA− · 63% proficient
- Manvel H SB+ · 54% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Iowa Colony school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Iowa Colony 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 Iowa Colony against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Iowa Colony
Is Iowa Colony a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Iowa Colony ranks 3,669th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and cell coverage, and lowest on disaster risk and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Iowa Colony expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $440,372. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $168,769 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is Iowa Colony safe?
Yes, Iowa Colony is safer than 89% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $219 per resident a year.
Compare Iowa Colony with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Iowa Colony. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Iowa Colony 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.
Iowa Colony detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Iowa Colony: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Iowa Colony: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Iowa Colony: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Iowa Colony: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Iowa Colony 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.