Best PlacesSt. Marys, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. Marys, 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.
St. Marys ranks 2,276th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in St. Marys
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.
St. Marys' strengths and weaknesses
Where St. Marys ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
Where St. Marys ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 16% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 29% of towns
- Short commute30.3 minutes each way, better than only 32% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 33% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in St. Marys
A household needs to earn about $102,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Marys home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $109,786, 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 St. Marys' effective rate of 1.04%, 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 St. Marys
St. Marys runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for St. Marys.
Who works in St. Marys, and how
Work in St. Marys centers on finance & insurance and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in St. Marys
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across St. Marys.
What the weather is like in St. Marys, month by month
St. Marys sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 25° | 18° |
| April | 64° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of St. Marys
The nearest airport, Des Moines International, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 113 miles away.
The best schools in and around St. Marys
Schools across St. Marys average an A, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Martensdale Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Wilder Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Interstate 35 Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Indianola Middle SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Interstate 35 Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- Southeast Warren Jr-sr High SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Indianola High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Martensdale-st Marys Jr-sr High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Marys school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. Marys 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 St. Marys against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in St. Marys
Is St. Marys a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Marys ranks 2,276th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, low crime, and civic engagement, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is St. Marys expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $376,562. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $109,786 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is St. Marys safe?
Yes, St. Marys is safer than 100% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $106 per resident a year.
Compare St. Marys with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Marys. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. Marys 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.
St. Marys detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Marys: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Marys: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Marys: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Marys: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. Marys 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.