Best PlacesMason City, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mason City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Mason City ranks 25,741st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mason City
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.
Mason City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mason City ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 139 pleasant days a year, better than 89% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 86% of towns
- QuietBetter than 84% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 78% of towns
Where Mason City ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 8% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mason City
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mason City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,799, 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 Mason City's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mason City
Mason City runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mason City.
Who works in Mason City, and how
Work in Mason City centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Mason City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mason City.
What the weather is like in Mason City, month by month
Mason City sees roughly 139 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 28° | 23° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 35° |
| July | 94° | 77° | 58° |
| October | 64° | 50° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Mason City
The nearest airport, Spokane International, is about 68 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 161 miles away.
Mason City 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 Mason City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mason City
Is Mason City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mason City ranks 25,741st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, the weather, and low taxes, and lowest on internet speeds and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mason City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $260,405. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $71,799 median income, cost of living beats 55% of towns.
Is Mason City safe?
Mason City is safer than 24% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $546 per resident a year.
Compare Mason City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mason City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mason City 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.
Mason City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mason City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mason City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mason City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mason City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mason City 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.