Best PlacesLyle, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lyle, 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.
Lyle ranks 11,132nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lyle
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.
Lyle's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lyle ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 201 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 82% of towns
Where Lyle ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 18% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 24% of towns
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lyle
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lyle home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,101, 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 Lyle's effective rate of 0.97%, 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 Lyle
Lyle's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lyle.
Who works in Lyle, and how
Work in Lyle centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Lyle
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lyle.
What the weather is like in Lyle, month by month
Lyle sees roughly 201 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° | 18° | 12° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 37° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Lyle
The nearest airport, Mason City Municipal, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 95 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lyle
Schools across Lyle average a C, better than 32% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Southland ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Southgate ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Glenville Emmons ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southland MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
- I.j. Holton Intermediate SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Austin Senior HighC+ · 36% proficient
- Southland Senior HighC · 34% proficient
- Lyle High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lyle school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lyle 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 Lyle against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lyle
Is Lyle a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lyle ranks 11,132nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, state infrastructure, and low crime, and lowest on civic engagement and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lyle expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $190,964. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $75,101 median income, cost of living beats 64% of towns.
Is Lyle safe?
Yes, Lyle is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $170 per resident a year.
Compare Lyle with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lyle. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lyle 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.
Lyle detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lyle: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lyle: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lyle: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lyle: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lyle 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.