Best PlacesLyon County, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Lyon County, 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.
Lyon County ranks 116th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lyon 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.
Lyon County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lyon County ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 89% of counties
Where Lyon County ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 16% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 26% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 29% of counties
- TransitBetter than only 35% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 40% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Lyon County
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lyon County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,096, 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 Lyon County's effective rate of 0.87%, 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 Lyon County
Lyon County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lyon County.
Who works in Lyon County, and how
Work in Lyon County 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 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Lyon County
Lyon County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of counties and more parkland per resident than 85% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lyon County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lyon County growing, and who is moving in?
Lyon County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Sioux County, IA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lyon County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lyon County, month by month
Lyon County sees roughly 128 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 18° | 10° |
| April | 57° | 44° | 34° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 60° | 47° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Lyon County
The nearest airport, Joe Foss Field, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 145 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lyon County
Schools across Lyon County average an A+, better than 99% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Central Lyon Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- West Lyon Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- East Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Lyon Junior High SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Rock Valley Middle SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
- Sheldon Middle SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
Top high schools
- West Lyon High SchoolA+ · 86% proficient
- Central Lyon Secondary SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Sheldon High SchoolA · 71% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lyon County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lyon 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 Lyon County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Lyon County
Is Lyon County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lyon County ranks 116th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on good schools, civic engagement, and low crime, and lowest on tree cover and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lyon County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $233,337. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $77,096 median income, cost of living beats 57% of counties.
Is Lyon County safe?
Yes, Lyon County is safer than 98% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $184 per resident a year.
Compare Lyon County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lyon County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lyon 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.
Lyon County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lyon County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lyon County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lyon County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lyon County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lyon 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.