Best PlacesStory County, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Story County, 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.
Story County ranks 113th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Story County
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.
The best areas in Story County
The parts of Story County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Story City
More households have young kids, prices have run up less, and local pay stretches further.
Nevada
Fewer adults hold degrees and biking is worse.
Huxley
Incomes run higher, though streets are more car-dependent.
Ames
Health care is harder to reach and fewer residents vote.
Scores across Story County run from about the 32nd to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Story County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Story County ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of counties
- BikingBetter than 98% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 95% of counties
Where Story County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 5% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 12% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 27% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 43% of counties
- Cheap childcare$746 a month, better than only 50% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Story County
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Story County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $75,893; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Story County's effective rate of 1.36%, 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 Story County
Story County runs younger 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 Story County.
Who works in Story County, and how
Work in Story County centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 15%
Life in Story County
Story County has more parkland per resident than 84% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 86% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Story County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Story County growing, and who is moving in?
Story County has grown about 7% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Des Moines, IA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Story County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Story County, month by month
Story County sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 63° | 49° | 39° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 65° | 52° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Story County
The nearest airport, Des Moines International, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 128 miles away.
The best schools in and around Story County
Schools across Story County average an A−, better than 95% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Gilbert Intermediate SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Roland-story Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- United Community SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gilbert Middle SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
- North Polk Middle SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Ballard Middle SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
Top high schools
- Gilbert High SchoolA+ · 89% proficient
- North Polk High SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- West Marshall High SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Story County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Story County 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 Story County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Story County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 61% of counties and health care access beats 60%.
Common questions about living in Story County
Is Story County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Story County ranks 113th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on an educated workforce, biking, and population health, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Story County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $278,813. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $75,893 median income, cost of living beats 66% of counties.
Is Story County safe?
Yes, Story County is safer than 86% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $244 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Story County?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 30 with lows near 14. That works out to about 101 pleasant days a year, more than 61% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Story County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Story City, Nevada, and Huxley. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Story County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Story County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Story County 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.
Story County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Story County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Story County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Story County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Story County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Story County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.