Best PlacesPolk County, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Polk County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Polk County ranks 76th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $93,596, everyday costs sit below the national average, and good schools ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are noise, property taxes, and tree cover.
The best neighborhoods in Polk County
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.
The best areas in Polk County
The parts of Polk County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Johnston & Grimes
Incomes run higher, more adults hold degrees, and local pay stretches further.
Ankeny
Schools score higher and more households have young kids.
Bondurant & Mitchellville
Prices have run up less, though transit reaches fewer jobs.
West Des Moines
Biking is better, though it is noisier.
Urbandale & Clive
More residents vote and health care is easier to reach.
Pleasant Hill & Runnells
Streets are more car-dependent.
Altoona
Homes cost less, though health outcomes score lower.
Des Moines
Crime runs higher and more homes sit empty.
Polk County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 6% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Polk County's strengths and weaknesses
Polk County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. What local pay buys is the standout, in the top 3% of counties. Biking and transit follow.
The one real hole is noise, near the bottom of the country. Property taxes and tree cover also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Polk County ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of counties
- BikingBetter than 97% of counties
- TransitBetter than 96% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of counties
Where Polk County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 38% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 43% of counties
- Cheap childcare$776 a month, better than only 46% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Polk County
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Polk County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $93,596, 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 Polk County's effective rate of 1.59%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Polk County
Polk County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Polk County.
Who works in Polk County, and how
Work in Polk County centers on health care & social and finance & insurance. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Polk County
Polk County has more parkland per resident than 87% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 90% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Polk County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Polk County growing, and who is moving in?
Polk County has grown about 12% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Des Moines, IA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Polk County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Polk County, month by month
Polk County sees roughly 90 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 23° | 15° |
| April | 66° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 66° |
| October | 68° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Polk County
The nearest airport, Des Moines International, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 119 miles away.
The best schools in and around Polk County
Schools across Polk County average a B+, better than 91% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Cowles Elementary SchoolA+ · 86% proficient
- North Polk West Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Mitchellville ElementaryA+ · 85% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Polk Middle SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Ballard Middle SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Prairie Ridge Middle SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Top high schools
- North Polk High SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Ankeny High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Ankeny Centennial High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Polk County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Polk County 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 Polk County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Polk County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 97% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 16% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Polk County
Is Polk County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Polk County ranks 76th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on what local pay buys, biking, and transit, 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 Polk County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $273,440. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $93,596 median income, cost of living beats 97% of counties.
Is Polk County safe?
Yes, Polk County is safer than 77% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $279 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Polk County?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 15. That works out to about 90 pleasant days a year, more than 52% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Polk County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Johnston & Grimes, Ankeny, and Bondurant & Mitchellville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Polk County good for families?
Schools beat 91% of counties, crime safety beats 77%, and childcare runs $776 a month.
Is Polk County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 97% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 95% of counties. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Polk County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Polk County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Polk County 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.
Polk County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Polk County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Polk County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Polk County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Polk County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Polk County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.