Best PlacesJones County, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Jones County, 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.
Jones County ranks 396th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Jones County
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.
Jones County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Jones County ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 94% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 94% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 86% of counties
Where Jones County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 28% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 32% of counties
- TransitBetter than only 35% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 37% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Jones County
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Jones County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,538, 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 Jones County's effective rate of 1.20%, 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 Jones County
Jones County 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 Jones County.
Who works in Jones County, and how
Work in Jones County centers on manufacturing 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 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Jones County
Jones County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 89% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Jones County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Jones County growing, and who is moving in?
Jones County has grown about 3% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Cedar Rapids, IA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Jones County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Jones County, month by month
Jones County sees roughly 100 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 | 60° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Jones County
The nearest airport, Dubuque Regional, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 169 miles away.
The best schools in and around Jones County
Schools across Jones County average an A, better than 94% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Washington Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Cascade Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Carpenter Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mount Vernon Middle SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Monticello Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Anamosa Middle SchoolA · 62% proficient
Top high schools
- Cascade Junior-senior High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Mount Vernon High SchoolA · 79% proficient
- Lisbon SecondaryA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Jones County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Jones County 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 Jones County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Jones County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of counties and 12% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 60% of counties, health care access beats 86%, and it is quieter than 66%.
Common questions about living in Jones County
Is Jones County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Jones County ranks 396th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on good schools, civic engagement, and low crime, and lowest on property taxes and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Jones County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $203,088. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $76,538 median income, cost of living beats 72% of counties.
Is Jones County safe?
Yes, Jones County is safer than 94% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $211 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Jones County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 29 with lows near 14. That works out to about 100 pleasant days a year, more than 60% of counties.
Is Jones County good for families?
Schools beat 94% of counties, crime safety beats 94%, and childcare runs $668 a month.
Compare Jones County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Jones County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Jones County 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.
Jones County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Jones County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Jones County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Jones County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Jones County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Jones County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.