Best PlacesOwasa, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Owasa, 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.
Owasa ranks 22,425th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Owasa
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.
Owasa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Owasa ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 86% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 85% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 80% of towns
Where Owasa ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 20% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 23% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Owasa
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Owasa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,265, 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 Owasa's effective rate of 1.27%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Owasa
Owasa's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Owasa.
Who works in Owasa, and how
Work in Owasa centers on retail trade and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Owasa
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Owasa.
What the weather is like in Owasa, month by month
Owasa sees roughly 111 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 61° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Owasa
The nearest airport, Waterloo Regional, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 160 miles away.
The best schools in and around Owasa
Schools across Owasa average an A−, better than 86% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Eldora-new Providence Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- South Hardin Middle SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
- Agwsr Middle SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Riverbend Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
Top high schools
- Iowa Falls - Alden High SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Agwsr High SchoolA− · 67% proficient
- South Hardin High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Owasa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Owasa 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 Owasa against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Owasa
Is Owasa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Owasa ranks 22,425th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, a stable housing market, and good schools, and lowest on property taxes and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Owasa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $138,114. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $60,265 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is Owasa safe?
Owasa is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $332 per resident a year.
Compare Owasa with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Owasa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Owasa 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.
Owasa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Owasa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Owasa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Owasa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Owasa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Owasa 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.