Best PlacesLambs Grove, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lambs Grove, 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.
Lambs Grove ranks 15,478th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lambs Grove
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.
Lambs Grove's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lambs Grove ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 87% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 82% of towns
Where Lambs Grove ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 39% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 42% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 43% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lambs Grove
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lambs Grove home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,305, 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 Lambs Grove's effective rate of 1.53%, 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 Lambs Grove
Lambs Grove 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 Lambs Grove.
Who works in Lambs Grove, and how
Work in Lambs Grove centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Lambs Grove
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lambs Grove.
What the weather is like in Lambs Grove, month by month
Lambs Grove sees roughly 104 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 22° | 15° |
| April | 62° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 84° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Lambs Grove
The nearest airport, Des Moines International, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 148 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lambs Grove
Schools across Lambs Grove average an A−, better than 87% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Thomas Jefferson Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Berg Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- Newton Senior High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lambs Grove school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lambs Grove 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 Lambs Grove against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lambs Grove
Is Lambs Grove a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lambs Grove ranks 15,478th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, low crime, and good schools, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lambs Grove expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $201,500. The overall cost of living runs about 25% below the national average. Set against a $70,305 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Lambs Grove safe?
Yes, Lambs Grove is safer than 92% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $160 per resident a year.
Compare Lambs Grove with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lambs Grove. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lambs Grove 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.
Lambs Grove detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lambs Grove: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lambs Grove: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lambs Grove: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lambs Grove: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lambs Grove 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.