Best PlacesScarville, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Scarville, 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.
Scarville ranks 9,533rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Scarville
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.
Scarville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Scarville ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 87% of towns
Where Scarville ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 25% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 35% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 37% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Scarville
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Scarville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,598, 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 Scarville's effective rate of 1.30%, 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 Scarville
Scarville 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 Scarville.
Who works in Scarville, and how
Work in Scarville centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Scarville
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Scarville.
What the weather is like in Scarville, month by month
Scarville sees roughly 119 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 27, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 27° | 19° | 11° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 60° | 49° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Scarville
The nearest airport, Mason City Municipal, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 100 miles away.
The best schools in and around Scarville
Schools across Scarville average an A−, better than 87% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lake Mills Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- North Iowa Elem Buffalo CenterA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lake Mills Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- North Iowa Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Lake Mills Senior High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- North Iowa High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Scarville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Scarville 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 Scarville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Scarville
Is Scarville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Scarville ranks 9,533rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, state finances, and a stable housing market, and lowest on tree cover and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Scarville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $180,686. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $76,598 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Scarville safe?
Scarville is safer than 52% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $276 per resident a year.
Compare Scarville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Scarville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Scarville 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.
Scarville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Scarville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Scarville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Scarville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Scarville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Scarville 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.