Best PlacesMills County, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Mills County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Mills County ranks 254th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mills 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.
Mills County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mills County ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of counties
- School gradeA, better than 99% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of counties
Where Mills County ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 55 pleasant days a year, better than only 2% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 6% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 18% of counties
- TransitBetter than only 35% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 36% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Mills County
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mills County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $91,401, 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 Mills County's effective rate of 1.23%, 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 Mills County
Mills County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mills County.
Who works in Mills County, and how
Work in Mills County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Mills County
Mills County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of counties and more parkland per resident than 84% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Mills County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Mills County growing, and who is moving in?
Mills County has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Omaha, NE metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Mills County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Mills County, month by month
Mills County sees roughly 55 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 25° | 17° |
| April | 66° | 52° | 41° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 67° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Mills County
Eppley Airfield sits about 20 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.6 million passengers in 2025, with 73 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Mills County
Schools across Mills County average an A, better than 99% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Treynor Elementary SchoolA+ · 86% proficient
- West Elementary SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Fremont-mills Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Treynor Middle SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Glenwood Middle SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Lewis Central Middle SchoolA+ · 71% proficient
Top high schools
- Treynor High SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- East Mills Jr/sr High SchoolA · 77% proficient
- Lewis Central Senior High SchoolA · 72% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mills County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mills 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 Mills County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Mills County
Is Mills County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mills County ranks 254th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on civic engagement, good schools, and low crime, and lowest on the weather and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mills County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $264,125. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $91,401 median income, cost of living beats 94% of counties.
Is Mills County safe?
Yes, Mills County is safer than 97% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $193 per resident a year.
Compare Mills County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mills County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mills 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.
Mills County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mills County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mills County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mills County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mills County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mills 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.