Best PlacesPerlee, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Perlee, 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.
Perlee ranks 14,454th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and walkability ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Perlee
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.
Perlee's strengths and weaknesses
Where Perlee ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute17.4 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 87% of towns
Where Perlee ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 26% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 26% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Perlee
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Perlee home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,154, 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 Perlee's effective rate of 1.03%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Perlee
Perlee 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 Perlee.
Who works in Perlee, and how
Work in Perlee centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Perlee
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Perlee.
What the weather is like in Perlee, month by month
Perlee sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 24° | 17° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Perlee
The nearest airport, Southeast Iowa Regional, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 181 miles away.
The best schools in and around Perlee
Schools across Perlee average an A−, better than 83% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Fairfield Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Washington Middle SchoolA− · 56% proficient
Top high schools
- Fairfield High SchoolA− · 61% proficient
- Washington High SchoolA− · 61% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Perlee school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Perlee 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 Perlee against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Perlee
Is Perlee a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Perlee ranks 14,454th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, few empty homes, and short commutes, and lowest on walkability and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Perlee expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $174,373. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $65,154 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is Perlee safe?
Perlee is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $369 per resident a year.
Compare Perlee with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Perlee. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Perlee 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.
Perlee detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Perlee: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Perlee: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Perlee: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Perlee: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Perlee 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.