Best PlacesPalo, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Palo, 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.
Palo ranks 2,736th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Palo
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.
Palo's strengths and weaknesses
Where Palo ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 97% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 93% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 93% of towns
Where Palo ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 22% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Palo
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Palo home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $107,035, 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 Palo's effective rate of 1.32%, 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 Palo
Palo'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 Palo.
Who works in Palo, and how
Work in Palo centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Palo
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Palo.
What the weather is like in Palo, month by month
Palo sees roughly 107 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 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° | 49° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Palo
The nearest airport, The Eastern Iowa, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 200 miles away.
The best schools in and around Palo
Schools across Palo average an A, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Viola Gibson Elementary SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Shellsburg Elementary SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Maple Grove ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Vinton-shellsburg Middle SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Harding Middle SchoolA · 64% proficient
- Taft Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Vinton-shellsburg High SchoolA · 77% proficient
- John F Kennedy High SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Thomas Jefferson High SchoolB · 49% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Palo school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Palo 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 Palo against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Palo
Is Palo a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Palo ranks 2,736th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, state finances, and cell coverage, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Palo expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $304,320. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $107,035 median income, cost of living beats 90% of towns.
Is Palo safe?
Yes, Palo is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $165 per resident a year.
Compare Palo with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Palo. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Palo 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.
Palo detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Palo: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Palo: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Palo: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Palo: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Palo 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.