Best PlacesKilbourn, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kilbourn, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Kilbourn ranks 23,830th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Kilbourn
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.
Kilbourn's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kilbourn ranks high
- Short commute16.5 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 87% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 86% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 80% of towns
Where Kilbourn ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 12% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Household income$55,577 median, better than only 20% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kilbourn
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kilbourn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,577, 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 Kilbourn's effective rate of 0.73%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Kilbourn
Kilbourn 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 Kilbourn.
Who works in Kilbourn, and how
Work in Kilbourn centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Kilbourn
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Kilbourn.
What the weather is like in Kilbourn, month by month
Kilbourn sees roughly 100 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 24° | 17° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Kilbourn
The nearest airport, Southeast Iowa Regional, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 167 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kilbourn
Schools across Kilbourn average an A−, better than 86% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Van Buren County Community School District Douds CenterB · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Van Buren County Community Middle & High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kilbourn school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kilbourn 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 Kilbourn against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kilbourn
Is Kilbourn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kilbourn ranks 23,830th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, state finances, and quiet, and lowest on biking and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kilbourn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $195,858. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $55,577 median income, cost of living beats 26% of towns.
Is Kilbourn safe?
Kilbourn is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $390 per resident a year.
Compare Kilbourn with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kilbourn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kilbourn 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.
Kilbourn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kilbourn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kilbourn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kilbourn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kilbourn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kilbourn 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.