Best PlacesSidney, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sidney, 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.
Sidney ranks 9,426th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sidney
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.
Sidney's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sidney ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 86% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 83% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 82% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of towns
Where Sidney ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 26% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 27% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 27% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sidney
A household needs to earn about $36,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sidney home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,480, 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 Sidney'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, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sidney
Sidney 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 Sidney.
Who works in Sidney, and how
Work in Sidney centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Sidney
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sidney.
What the weather is like in Sidney, month by month
Sidney sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 25° | 18° |
| April | 66° | 52° | 41° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 68° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Sidney
Eppley Airfield sits about 40 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.6 million passengers in 2025, with 73 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Sidney
Schools across Sidney average an A−, better than 86% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fremont-mills Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Sidney Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Fremont-mills Middle And Senior High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Sidney High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sidney school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sidney 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 Sidney against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sidney
Is Sidney a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sidney ranks 9,426th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, good schools, and health care access, and lowest on the weather and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sidney expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $130,935. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $80,480 median income, cost of living beats 75% of towns.
Is Sidney safe?
Yes, Sidney is safer than 60% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $275 per resident a year.
Compare Sidney with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sidney. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sidney 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.
Sidney detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sidney: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sidney: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sidney: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sidney: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sidney 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.