Best PlacesPenn, North Liberty, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Penn, North Liberty, 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.
Penn, North Liberty ranks 196th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Penn, North Liberty
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.
Penn, North Liberty's strengths and weaknesses
Where Penn, North Liberty ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
- State fiscal healthBetter than 97% of neighborhoods
- School gradeA, better than 97% of neighborhoods
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 95% of neighborhoods
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of neighborhoods
Where Penn, North Liberty ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of neighborhoods
- TransitBetter than only 18% of neighborhoods
- Tree shadeBetter than only 19% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Penn, North Liberty
A household needs to earn about $95,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Penn, North Liberty home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $122,602, 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 Penn, North Liberty's effective rate of 1.34%, 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 Penn, North Liberty
Penn, North Liberty runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Penn, North Liberty.
Who works in Penn, North Liberty, and how
Work in Penn, North Liberty centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Penn, North Liberty
Penn, North Liberty has more parkland per resident than 82% of neighborhoods. That concentrates in some parts of Penn, North Liberty and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Penn, North Liberty, month by month
Penn, North Liberty sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 23° | 16° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Penn, North Liberty
The nearest airport, The Eastern Iowa, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 191 miles away.
The best schools in and around Penn, North Liberty
Schools across Penn, North Liberty average an A, better than 97% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Wickham ElementaryA+ · 86% proficient
- Penn Elementary SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Christine Grant ElementaryA · 71% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clear Creek Amana Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- North Central Junior High SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
Top high schools
- Clear Creek Amana High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- West Senior High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Liberty High SchoolA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Penn, North Liberty school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Penn, North Liberty 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 Penn, North Liberty against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Penn, North Liberty
Is Penn, North Liberty a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Penn, North Liberty ranks 196th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on low crime, state finances, and good schools, and lowest on internet speeds 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 Penn, North Liberty expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $339,666. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $122,602 median income, cost of living beats 93% of neighborhoods.
Is Penn, North Liberty safe?
Yes, Penn, North Liberty is safer than 99% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $151 per resident a year.
Compare Penn, North Liberty with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Penn, North Liberty. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Penn, North Liberty 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.
Penn, North Liberty detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Penn, North Liberty: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Penn, North Liberty: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Penn, North Liberty: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Penn, North Liberty: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Penn, North Liberty 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.