Best PlacesMona, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mona, 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.
Mona ranks 2,230th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mona
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.
Mona's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mona ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 201 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$125,667 median, better than 94% of towns
Where Mona ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 24% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mona
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mona home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $125,667, 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 Mona'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 Mona
Mona's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mona.
Who works in Mona, and how
Work in Mona centers on manufacturing and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Mona
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mona.
What the weather is like in Mona, month by month
Mona sees roughly 201 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 18° | 12° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 37° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Mona
The nearest airport, Mason City Municipal, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 98 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mona
Schools across Mona average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- St Ansgar Elementary SchoolA · 72% proficient
Top middle schools
- St Ansgar Middle SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
Top high schools
- St Ansgar High SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mona school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mona 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 Mona against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mona
Is Mona a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mona ranks 2,230th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, few empty homes, and good schools, and lowest on crime and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mona expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $280,600. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $125,667 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Mona safe?
Mona is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $596 per resident a year.
Compare Mona with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mona. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mona 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.
Mona detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mona: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mona: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mona: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mona: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mona 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.