Best PlacesPage County, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Page County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Page County ranks 1,348th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Page County
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.
Page County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Page County ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 90% of counties
- Short commute17.8 minutes each way, better than 88% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 85% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 77% of counties
Where Page County ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 26% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 27% of counties
- Household income$60,616 median, better than only 28% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Page County
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Page County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,616, 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 Page County'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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Page County
Page County 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 Page County.
Who works in Page County, and how
Work in Page County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Page County
Page County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 91% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Page County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Page County growing, and who is moving in?
Page County has lost about 3% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Des Moines, IA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Page County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Page County, month by month
Page County sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 25° | 17° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Page County
Eppley Airfield sits about 53 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.6 million passengers in 2025, with 73 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Page County
Schools across Page County average an A−, better than 90% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Stanton Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Essex Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Shenandoah Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Shenandoah Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Southwest Valley Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- Essex Junior-senior High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Shenandoah High SchoolA− · 61% proficient
- Red Oak Junior/senior High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Page County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Page County 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 Page County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Page County
Is Page County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Page County ranks 1,348th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state finances, good schools, and short commutes, and lowest on the weather and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Page County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $147,891. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $60,616 median income, cost of living beats 43% of counties.
Is Page County safe?
Page County is safer than 27% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $394 per resident a year.
Compare Page County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Page County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Page County 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.
Page County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Page County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Page County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Page County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Page County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Page County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.