Best PlacesMoingona, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Moingona, 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.
Moingona ranks 1,736th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and walkability ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Moingona
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.
Moingona's strengths and weaknesses
Where Moingona ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 93% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 92% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 92% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 89% of towns
Where Moingona ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 26% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 30% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 31% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 42% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Moingona
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Moingona home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $107,082, 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 Moingona's effective rate of 1.08%, 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 Moingona
Moingona runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Moingona.
Who works in Moingona, and how
Work in Moingona centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Moingona
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Moingona.
What the weather is like in Moingona, month by month
Moingona sees roughly 100 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 15° |
| April | 61° | 49° | 39° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Moingona
The nearest airport, Des Moines International, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 112 miles away.
The best schools in and around Moingona
Schools across Moingona average an A, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- United Community SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Ogden Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Woodward-granger Middle SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Ogden Middle SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Boone Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Woodward-granger High SchoolA · 78% proficient
- Ogden High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Boone High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Moingona school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Moingona 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 Moingona against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Moingona
Is Moingona a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Moingona ranks 1,736th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, what local pay buys, and good schools, and lowest on walkability and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Moingona expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $343,758. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $107,082 median income, cost of living beats 93% of towns.
Is Moingona safe?
Yes, Moingona is safer than 81% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $205 per resident a year.
Compare Moingona with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Moingona. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Moingona 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.
Moingona detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Moingona: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Moingona: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Moingona: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Moingona: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Moingona 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.