Best PlacesLedyard, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ledyard, 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.
Ledyard ranks 8,568th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ledyard
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.
Ledyard's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ledyard ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute19.4 minutes each way, better than 90% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 89% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of towns
Where Ledyard ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 26% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 29% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 29% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ledyard
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ledyard home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,731, 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 Ledyard's effective rate of 0.90%, 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 Ledyard
Ledyard 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 Ledyard.
Who works in Ledyard, and how
Work in Ledyard centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Ledyard
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ledyard.
What the weather is like in Ledyard, month by month
Ledyard sees roughly 117 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 17° | 10° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 61° | 49° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Ledyard
The nearest airport, Mason City Municipal, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 111 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ledyard
Schools across Ledyard average a B+, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Kossuth Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
- North Iowa Elem Buffalo CenterA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Union Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
- North Iowa Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- North Iowa High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ledyard school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ledyard 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 Ledyard against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ledyard
Is Ledyard a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ledyard ranks 8,568th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, a stable housing market, and short commutes, and lowest on tree cover and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ledyard expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $161,980. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $80,731 median income, cost of living beats 83% of towns.
Is Ledyard safe?
Yes, Ledyard is safer than 61% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $251 per resident a year.
Compare Ledyard with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ledyard. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ledyard 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.
Ledyard detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ledyard: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ledyard: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ledyard: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ledyard: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ledyard 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.