Best PlacesLake View, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lake View, 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.
Lake View ranks 6,198th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lake View
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.
Lake View's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lake View ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of towns
Where Lake View ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 20% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 23% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 34% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 38% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lake View
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake View home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,934, 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 Lake View's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 Lake View
Lake View 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 Lake View.
Who works in Lake View, and how
Work in Lake View centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Lake View
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lake View.
What the weather is like in Lake View, month by month
Lake View sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 19° | 12° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 62° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Lake View
The nearest airport, Fort Dodge Regional, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 82 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lake View
Schools across Lake View average an A−, better than 87% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- South Central Calhoun Elementary BuildingA · 65% proficient
- Odebolt Arthur Battle Creek Ida Grove Elementary-odeboltA− · 62% proficient
- Ar-we-va Elementary Community SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- South Central Calhoun Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
Top high schools
- East Sac County High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- South Central Calhoun High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lake View school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lake View 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 Lake View against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lake View
Is Lake View a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake View ranks 6,198th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, walkability, and health care access, and lowest on air quality and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lake View expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $194,517. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $79,934 median income, cost of living beats 75% of towns.
Is Lake View safe?
Yes, Lake View is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $243 per resident a year.
Compare Lake View with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake View. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake View 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.
Lake View detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake View: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake View: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake View: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake View: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake View 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.