Best PlacesPanora, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Panora, 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.
Panora ranks 5,897th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Panora
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.
Panora's strengths and weaknesses
Where Panora ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 90% of towns
Where Panora ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 22% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 32% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 36% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 40% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Panora
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Panora home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,777, 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 Panora's effective rate of 1.15%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Panora
Panora 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 Panora.
Who works in Panora, and how
Work in Panora centers on finance & insurance and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Panora
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Panora.
What the weather is like in Panora, month by month
Panora sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 22° | 13° |
| April | 64° | 49° | 37° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Panora
The nearest airport, Des Moines International, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 83 miles away.
The best schools in and around Panora
Schools across Panora average an A, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Guthrie Center Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Panorama ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Panorama Middle SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
Top high schools
- Guthrie Center High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Panorama High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Panora school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Panora 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 Panora against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Panora
Is Panora a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Panora ranks 5,897th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and state finances, and lowest on empty homes and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Panora expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $194,029. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $74,777 median income, cost of living beats 73% of towns.
Is Panora safe?
Yes, Panora is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $162 per resident a year.
Compare Panora with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Panora. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Panora 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.
Panora detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Panora: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Panora: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Panora: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Panora: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Panora 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.