Best PlacesLima, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lima, 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.
Lima ranks 16,558th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lima
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.
Lima's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lima ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 91% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 89% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 139 pleasant days a year, better than 89% of towns
Where Lima ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 12% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 24% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lima
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lima home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,458, 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 Lima's effective rate of 0.99%, 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 Lima
Lima runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lima.
Who works in Lima, and how
Work in Lima centers on manufacturing and other services. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Lima
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lima.
What the weather is like in Lima, month by month
Lima sees roughly 139 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 19° | 12° |
| April | 58° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 64° |
| October | 62° | 51° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Lima
The nearest airport, Waterloo Regional, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 158 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lima
Schools across Lima average an A−, better than 89% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fayette ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- West Union Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Fayette Valley Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- North Fayette Valley High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Starmont High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lima school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lima 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 Lima against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lima
Is Lima a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lima ranks 16,558th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, state finances, and quiet, and lowest on biking and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lima expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $212,900. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $66,458 median income, cost of living beats 56% of towns.
Is Lima safe?
Lima is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $329 per resident a year.
Compare Lima with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lima. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lima 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.
Lima detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lima: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lima: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lima: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lima: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lima 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.