Best PlacesSac City, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sac City, 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.
Sac City ranks 9,420th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sac City
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.
Sac City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sac City ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
- Short commute18.7 minutes each way, better than 92% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 87% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 87% of towns
Where Sac City ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 20% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 21% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 26% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 35% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sac City
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sac City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,670, 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 Sac City's effective rate of 0.94%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sac City
Sac City 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 Sac City.
Who works in Sac City, and how
Work in Sac City centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Sac City
Sac City has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Sac City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sac City, month by month
Sac City sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 19° | 12° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 62° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Sac City
The nearest airport, Fort Dodge Regional, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 90 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sac City
Schools across Sac City average an A−, better than 87% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- South Central Calhoun Elementary BuildingA · 65% proficient
- Schaller-crestland ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Newell-fonda ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Schaller-crestland Ridge View Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Newell-fonda Middle Sch.A · 60% proficient
- South Central Calhoun Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
Top high schools
- East Sac County High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Newell-fonda High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- South Central Calhoun High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sac City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sac City 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 Sac City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sac City
Is Sac City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sac City ranks 9,420th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, walkability, and short commutes, and lowest on distance from a big city and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sac City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $132,620. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $66,670 median income, cost of living beats 62% of towns.
Is Sac City safe?
Yes, Sac City is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $259 per resident a year.
Compare Sac City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sac City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sac City 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.
Sac City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sac City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sac City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sac City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sac City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sac City 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.