Best PlacesLee County, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Lee County, 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.
Lee County ranks 1,000th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lee County
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.
Lee County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lee County ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of counties
- School gradeB+, better than 87% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 84% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 84% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 83% of counties
Where Lee County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 14% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 17% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 32% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Lee County
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lee County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,848, 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 Lee County's effective rate of 1.39%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lee County
Lee County 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 Lee County.
Who works in Lee County, and how
Work in Lee County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Lee County
Lee County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of counties and more parkland per resident than 90% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lee County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lee County growing, and who is moving in?
Lee County has lost about 8% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Chicago, IL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lee County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lee County, month by month
Lee County sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 43° |
| July | 85° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 67° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Lee County
The nearest airport, Southeast Iowa Regional, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 137 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lee County
Schools across Lee County average a B+, better than 87% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Van Buren County Community School District Harmony CenterA · 65% proficient
- Central Lee Elementary SchoolA · 64% proficient
- Salem Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central Lee Middle SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
- Mount Pleasant Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Fort Madison Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- Central Lee High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Mount Pleasant High SchoolA · 67% proficient
- 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 Lee County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lee County 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 Lee County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Lee County suits
Common questions about living in Lee County
Is Lee County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lee County ranks 1,000th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state finances, good schools, and a stable housing market, and lowest on property taxes and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lee County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $154,763. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $64,848 median income, cost of living beats 61% of counties.
Is Lee County safe?
Yes, Lee County is safer than 73% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $279 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lee County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 20. That works out to about 92 pleasant days a year, more than 54% of counties.
Is Lee County good for families?
Schools beat 87% of counties, crime safety beats 73%, and childcare runs $688 a month.
Compare Lee County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lee County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lee County 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.
Lee County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lee County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lee County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lee County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lee County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lee County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.