Best PlacesKingsley, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kingsley, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Kingsley ranks 3,015th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Kingsley
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.
Kingsley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kingsley ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 90% of towns
Where Kingsley ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 16% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 25% of towns
- TransitBetter than only 44% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 48% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 49% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kingsley
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kingsley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,176, 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 Kingsley's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Kingsley
Kingsley runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Kingsley.
Who works in Kingsley, and how
Work in Kingsley centers on health care & social and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Kingsley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Kingsley.
What the weather is like in Kingsley, month by month
Kingsley sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 61° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 63° | 50° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Kingsley
The nearest airport, Sioux Gateway/Brig General Bud Day Field, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 89 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kingsley
Schools across Kingsley average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Remsen-union Elementary SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Bronson Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Kluckhohn Elementary SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hinton Intermediate SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Woodbury Central Middle SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
- Le Mars Middle SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Kingsley-pierson High SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Lawton-bronson Junior-senior High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Hinton High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kingsley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kingsley 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 Kingsley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kingsley
Is Kingsley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kingsley ranks 3,015th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, walkability, and civic engagement, and lowest on tree cover and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kingsley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $203,524. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $78,176 median income, cost of living beats 70% of towns.
Is Kingsley safe?
Yes, Kingsley is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $225 per resident a year.
Compare Kingsley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kingsley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kingsley 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.
Kingsley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kingsley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kingsley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kingsley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kingsley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kingsley 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.