Best PlacesMitchell, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mitchell, 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.
Mitchell ranks 25,378th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mitchell
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.
Mitchell's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mitchell ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 96% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute19.9 minutes each way, better than 88% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 132 pleasant days a year, better than 86% of towns
Where Mitchell ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 16% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 24% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mitchell
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mitchell home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,292, 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 Mitchell's effective rate of 0.96%, 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 Mitchell
Mitchell runs older than the country, 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 Mitchell.
Who works in Mitchell, and how
Work in Mitchell centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Mitchell
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mitchell.
What the weather is like in Mitchell, month by month
Mitchell sees roughly 132 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 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 | 82° | 72° | 64° |
| October | 61° | 50° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Mitchell
The nearest airport, Mason City Municipal, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 109 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mitchell
Schools across Mitchell average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lincoln Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Osage Middle SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
Top high schools
- Osage High SchoolA− · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mitchell school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mitchell 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 Mitchell against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mitchell
Is Mitchell a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mitchell ranks 25,378th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, good schools, and state finances, and lowest on noise and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mitchell expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $225,000. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $67,292 median income, cost of living beats 54% of towns.
Is Mitchell safe?
Mitchell is safer than 7% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $565 per resident a year.
Compare Mitchell with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mitchell. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mitchell 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.
Mitchell detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mitchell: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mitchell: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mitchell: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mitchell: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mitchell 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.