Best PlacesLittle Turkey, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Little Turkey, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Little Turkey ranks 3,664th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Little Turkey
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.
Little Turkey's strengths and weaknesses
Where Little Turkey ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute18.0 minutes each way, better than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 142 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 88% of towns
Where Little Turkey ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 16% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Little Turkey
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Little Turkey home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,666, 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 Little Turkey's effective rate of 0.96%, 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 Little Turkey
Little Turkey 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 Little Turkey.
Who works in Little Turkey, and how
Work in Little Turkey centers on manufacturing and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Little Turkey
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Little Turkey.
What the weather is like in Little Turkey, month by month
Little Turkey sees roughly 142 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 19° | 13° |
| April | 57° | 46° | 37° |
| July | 81° | 72° | 64° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Little Turkey
The nearest airport, Waterloo Regional, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 133 miles away.
The best schools in and around Little Turkey
Schools across Little Turkey average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Turkey Valley Elementary SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
Top high schools
- Turkey Valley Jr-sr High SchoolA− · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Little Turkey school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Little Turkey 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 Little Turkey against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Little Turkey
Is Little Turkey a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Little Turkey ranks 3,664th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, state finances, and short commutes, and lowest on tree cover and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Little Turkey expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $227,192. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $82,666 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Little Turkey safe?
Yes, Little Turkey is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $193 per resident a year.
Compare Little Turkey with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Little Turkey. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Little Turkey 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.
Little Turkey detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Little Turkey: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Little Turkey: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Little Turkey: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Little Turkey: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Little Turkey 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.