Best PlacesOrange City, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Orange City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Orange City ranks 1,174th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Orange 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.
Orange City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Orange City ranks high
- Short commute10.4 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
Where Orange City ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 18% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 18% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 21% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 22% of towns
- TransitBetter than only 44% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Orange City
A household needs to earn about $80,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Orange City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,584, 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 Orange City's effective rate of 1.25%, 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 Orange City
Orange City runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Orange City.
Who works in Orange City, and how
Work in Orange City centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Orange City
Orange City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of towns and more parkland per resident than 93% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Orange City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Orange City, month by month
Orange City sees roughly 86 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 61° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 63° | 50° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Orange City
The nearest airport, Sioux Gateway/Brig General Bud Day Field, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 119 miles away.
The best schools in and around Orange City
Schools across Orange City average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Orange City Elementary SchoolA+ · 89% proficient
- Hospers Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Kinsey Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Moc-floyd Valley Middle SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Sioux Center Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- Moc-floyd Valley High SchoolA · 74% proficient
- Sioux Center High SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Boyden-hull High SchoolA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Orange City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Orange 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 Orange City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Orange City
Is Orange City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Orange City ranks 1,174th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, cell coverage, and walkability, and lowest on property taxes and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Orange City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $288,559. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $85,584 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Orange City safe?
Yes, Orange City is safer than 78% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $214 per resident a year.
Compare Orange City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Orange City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Orange 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.
Orange City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Orange City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Orange City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Orange City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Orange City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Orange 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.