Best PlacesMaloy, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Maloy, 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.
Maloy ranks 15,982nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Maloy
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.
Maloy's strengths and weaknesses
Where Maloy ranks high
- Short commute16.5 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 93% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of towns
Where Maloy ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 14% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Maloy
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Maloy home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,172, 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 Maloy's effective rate of 0.82%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Maloy
Maloy'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 Maloy.
Who works in Maloy, and how
Work in Maloy centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Maloy
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Maloy.
What the weather is like in Maloy, month by month
Maloy sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 23° | 16° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Maloy
The nearest airport, Des Moines International, is about 71 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 88 miles away.
The best schools in and around Maloy
Schools across Maloy average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mount Ayr ElementaryA+ · 78% proficient
- Bedford Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
Top high schools
- Mount Ayr High SchoolA · 71% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Maloy school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Maloy 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 Maloy against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Maloy
Is Maloy a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Maloy ranks 15,982nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, good schools, and state finances, and lowest on cell coverage and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Maloy expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $155,065. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $73,172 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Maloy safe?
Maloy is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $308 per resident a year.
Compare Maloy with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Maloy. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Maloy 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.
Maloy detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Maloy: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Maloy: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Maloy: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Maloy: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Maloy 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.