Best PlacesSergeant Bluff, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sergeant Bluff, 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.
Sergeant Bluff ranks 766th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sergeant Bluff
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.
Sergeant Bluff's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sergeant Bluff ranks high
- Short commute13.7 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 95% of towns
Where Sergeant Bluff ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 15% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 33% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 48% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sergeant Bluff
A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sergeant Bluff home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $123,792, 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 Sergeant Bluff's effective rate of 1.19%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sergeant Bluff
Sergeant Bluff's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sergeant Bluff.
Who works in Sergeant Bluff, and how
Work in Sergeant Bluff centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Sergeant Bluff
Sergeant Bluff has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Sergeant Bluff and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sergeant Bluff, month by month
Sergeant Bluff sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 22° | 12° |
| April | 65° | 49° | 35° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 62° |
| October | 67° | 51° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Sergeant Bluff
The nearest airport, Sioux Gateway/Brig General Bud Day Field, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 79 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sergeant Bluff
Schools across Sergeant Bluff average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sunnyside Elementary SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Bronson Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Westwood Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sergeant Bluff-luton Middle SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- East Middle SchoolA · 62% proficient
Top high schools
- Lawton-bronson Junior-senior High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Sergeant Bluff-luton Senior High SchoolA · 79% proficient
- Westwood High SchoolA · 76% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sergeant Bluff school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sergeant Bluff 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 Sergeant Bluff against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sergeant Bluff
Is Sergeant Bluff a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sergeant Bluff ranks 766th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, cell coverage, and what local pay buys, and lowest on noise and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sergeant Bluff expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $294,990. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $123,792 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Sergeant Bluff safe?
Yes, Sergeant Bluff is safer than 85% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $197 per resident a year.
Compare Sergeant Bluff with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sergeant Bluff. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sergeant Bluff 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.
Sergeant Bluff detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sergeant Bluff: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sergeant Bluff: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sergeant Bluff: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sergeant Bluff: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sergeant Bluff 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.