Best PlacesProle, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Prole, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Prole ranks 1,865th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Prole
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.
Prole's strengths and weaknesses
Where Prole ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of towns
Where Prole ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 20% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 24% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 44% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Prole
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Prole home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $113,674, 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 Prole's effective rate of 1.12%, 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 Prole
Prole runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Prole.
Who works in Prole, and how
Work in Prole centers on finance & insurance and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Prole
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Prole.
What the weather is like in Prole, month by month
Prole sees roughly 82 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 Prole
The nearest airport, Des Moines International, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 114 miles away.
The best schools in and around Prole
Schools across Prole average an A, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Martensdale Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Winterset Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Wilder Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Indianola Middle SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Norwalk Middle SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Winterset Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Norwalk Senior High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Winterset Senior High SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Indianola High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Prole school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Prole 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 Prole against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Prole
Is Prole a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Prole ranks 1,865th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, what local pay buys, and state finances, and lowest on noise and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Prole expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $341,650. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $113,674 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Prole safe?
Yes, Prole is safer than 92% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $182 per resident a year.
Compare Prole with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Prole. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Prole 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.
Prole detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Prole: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Prole: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Prole: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Prole: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Prole 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.