Best PlacesLinn County, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Linn County, 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.
Linn County ranks 195th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on biking and low crime. The weaker spots are noise, property taxes, and disaster risk.
The best neighborhoods in Linn 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.
The best areas in Linn County
The parts of Linn County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Robins
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more households have young kids.
Mount Vernon, Ely & Lisbon
Schools score higher, though biking is worse.
Center Point
More residents vote, though homes cost more.
Marion
It is quieter and crime runs lower.
Hiawatha
Fewer homes sit empty and tree cover is thicker.
Cedar Rapids
Streets are more walkable.
Fairfax
Fewer adults hold degrees.
Linn County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 7% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Linn County's strengths and weaknesses
Linn County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Biking, low crime, and cell coverage carry most of that.
The one real hole is noise, near the bottom of the country. Property taxes and disaster risk also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Linn County ranks high
- BikingBetter than 96% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 90% of counties
Where Linn County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 23% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 26% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 26% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Linn County
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Linn County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $88,042, 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 Linn County's effective rate of 1.49%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Linn County
Linn County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Linn County.
Who works in Linn County, and how
Work in Linn County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Linn County
Linn County has more parkland per resident than 84% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 93% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Linn County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Linn County growing, and who is moving in?
Linn County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Iowa City, IA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Linn County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Linn County, month by month
Linn County sees roughly 110 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 61° | 49° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Linn County
The nearest airport, The Eastern Iowa, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 192 miles away.
The best schools in and around Linn County
Schools across Linn County average an A−, better than 90% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Indian Creek Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Echo Hill ElementaryA+ · 83% proficient
- Washington Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Top middle schools
- Solon Middle SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Vinton-shellsburg Middle SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Mount Vernon Middle SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
Top high schools
- Solon High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Mount Vernon High SchoolA · 79% proficient
- Lisbon SecondaryA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Linn County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Linn 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 Linn County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Linn County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 90% of counties and 15% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 68% of counties and health care access beats 79%.
Common questions about living in Linn County
Is Linn County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Linn County ranks 195th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on biking, low crime, and cell coverage, 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 Linn County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $228,368. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $88,042 median income, cost of living beats 90% of counties.
Is Linn County safe?
Yes, Linn County is safer than 92% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $234 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Linn County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 29 with lows near 14. That works out to about 110 pleasant days a year, more than 68% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Linn County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Robins, Mount Vernon, Ely & Lisbon, and Center Point. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Linn County good for families?
Schools beat 90% of counties, crime safety beats 92%, and childcare runs $727 a month.
Is Linn County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 90% of counties, though advertised internet speeds beat only 26% of counties. About 15% of workers already work from home.
Compare Linn County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Linn County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Linn 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.
Linn County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Linn County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Linn County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Linn County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Linn County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Linn 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.