Best PlacesStorm Lake, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Storm Lake, 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.
Storm Lake ranks 5,364th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Storm Lake
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.
Storm Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Storm Lake ranks high
- Short commute10.9 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
Where Storm Lake ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 9% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 17% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Storm Lake
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Storm Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,114, 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 Storm Lake's effective rate of 1.50%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Storm Lake
Storm Lake runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Storm Lake.
Who works in Storm Lake, and how
Work in Storm Lake centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Storm Lake
Storm Lake has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Storm Lake and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Storm Lake, month by month
Storm Lake 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 Storm Lake
The nearest airport, Fort Dodge Regional, is about 52 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 99 miles away.
The best schools in and around Storm Lake
Schools across Storm Lake average a B, better than 69% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Alta Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Sioux Central Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Schaller-crestland ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sioux Central Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Schaller-crestland Ridge View Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Newell-fonda Middle Sch.A · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Alta-aurelia High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Sioux Central High SchoolA− · 67% proficient
- Newell-fonda High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Storm Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Storm Lake 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 Storm Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Storm Lake
Is Storm Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Storm Lake ranks 5,364th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, cell coverage, and walkability, and lowest on education levels and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Storm Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $180,068. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $77,114 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Storm Lake safe?
Storm Lake is safer than 49% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $298 per resident a year.
Compare Storm Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Storm Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Storm Lake 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.
Storm Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Storm Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Storm Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Storm Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Storm Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Storm Lake 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.