Best PlacesRyan, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ryan, 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.
Ryan ranks 3,639th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ryan
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.
Ryan's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ryan ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 95% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 86% of towns
Where Ryan ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 9% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 24% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 24% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 26% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 39% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ryan
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ryan home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $90,416, 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 Ryan's effective rate of 1.08%, 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 Ryan
Ryan's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Ryan.
Who works in Ryan, and how
Work in Ryan centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Ryan
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ryan.
What the weather is like in Ryan, month by month
Ryan sees roughly 128 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Ryan
The nearest airport, The Eastern Iowa, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 186 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ryan
Schools across Ryan average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lambert Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- North Linn ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
- East Buchanan Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Delaware Middle SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
- Maquoketa Valley Middle SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- North-linn Middle SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
Top high schools
- Maquoketa Valley Senior High SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- West Delaware High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- North-linn Senior High SchoolA · 72% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ryan school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ryan 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 Ryan against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ryan
Is Ryan a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ryan ranks 3,639th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, civic engagement, and state finances, and lowest on tree cover and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ryan expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $241,578. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $90,416 median income, cost of living beats 81% of towns.
Is Ryan safe?
Yes, Ryan is safer than 88% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $180 per resident a year.
Compare Ryan with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ryan. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ryan 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.
Ryan detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ryan: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ryan: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ryan: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ryan: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ryan 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.