Best PlacesPilot Mound, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pilot Mound, 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.
Pilot Mound ranks 8,646th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Pilot Mound
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.
Pilot Mound's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pilot Mound ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 88% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 85% of towns
Where Pilot Mound ranks low
- Short commute35.4 minutes each way, better than only 13% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 23% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pilot Mound
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pilot Mound home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,655, 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 Pilot Mound's effective rate of 1.29%, 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 Pilot Mound
Pilot Mound 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 Pilot Mound.
Who works in Pilot Mound, and how
Work in Pilot Mound centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Pilot Mound
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pilot Mound.
What the weather is like in Pilot Mound, month by month
Pilot Mound sees roughly 104 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 15° |
| April | 61° | 49° | 39° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Pilot Mound
The nearest airport, Fort Dodge Regional, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 114 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pilot Mound
Schools across Pilot Mound average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dayton CenterA+ · 75% proficient
- Ogden Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Stratford ElementaryA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ogden Middle SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Southeast Webster-grand Southeast Valley MiddleA · 61% proficient
- Boone Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- South Hamilton Middle And High SchoolA · 77% proficient
- Ogden High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Boone High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pilot Mound school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pilot Mound 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 Pilot Mound against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pilot Mound
Is Pilot Mound a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pilot Mound ranks 8,646th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, good schools, and quiet, and lowest on long commutes and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pilot Mound expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $243,762. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $83,655 median income, cost of living beats 77% of towns.
Is Pilot Mound safe?
Yes, Pilot Mound is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $183 per resident a year.
Compare Pilot Mound with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pilot Mound. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pilot Mound 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.
Pilot Mound detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pilot Mound: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pilot Mound: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pilot Mound: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pilot Mound: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pilot Mound 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.