Best PlacesMallard, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mallard, 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.
Mallard ranks 7,935th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mallard
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.
Mallard's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mallard ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 88% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 128 pleasant days a year, better than 84% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of towns
Where Mallard ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 17% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 22% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mallard
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mallard home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $84,124, 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 Mallard's effective rate of 1.02%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mallard
Mallard runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mallard.
Who works in Mallard, and how
Work in Mallard centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Mallard
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mallard.
What the weather is like in Mallard, month by month
Mallard sees roughly 128 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 27, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 27° | 19° | 12° |
| April | 58° | 46° | 37° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 62° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Mallard
The nearest airport, Fort Dodge Regional, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 130 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mallard
Schools across Mallard average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- West Bend-mallard Elementary SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- West Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Pocahontas Area Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Bend-mallard Middle SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Emmetsburg Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- West Bend-mallard High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Pocahontas Area Middle/ High SchoolA− · 67% proficient
- Emmetsburg High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mallard school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mallard 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 Mallard against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mallard
Is Mallard a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mallard ranks 7,935th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, state finances, and civic engagement, and lowest on a weak job market and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mallard expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $150,583. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $84,124 median income, cost of living beats 82% of towns.
Is Mallard safe?
Yes, Mallard is safer than 72% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $221 per resident a year.
Compare Mallard with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mallard. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mallard 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.
Mallard detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mallard: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mallard: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mallard: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mallard: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mallard 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.