Best PlacesSunshine, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sunshine, 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.
Sunshine ranks 21,922nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sunshine
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.
Sunshine's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sunshine ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- Short commute21.1 minutes each way, better than 84% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 75% of towns
Where Sunshine ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 10% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 12% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 16% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sunshine
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sunshine home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,125, 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 Sunshine's effective rate of 1.05%, 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 Sunshine
Sunshine runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sunshine.
Who works in Sunshine, and how
Work in Sunshine centers on transportation & warehousing and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Sunshine
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sunshine.
What the weather is like in Sunshine, month by month
Sunshine sees roughly 107 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 24° | 18° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Sunshine
The nearest airport, Kirksville Regional, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 137 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sunshine
Schools across Sunshine average a B, better than 72% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Howar Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Centerville High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sunshine school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sunshine 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 Sunshine against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sunshine
Is Sunshine a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sunshine ranks 21,922nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, a stable housing market, and short commutes, and lowest on health outcomes and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sunshine expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $165,950. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $65,125 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is Sunshine safe?
Yes, Sunshine is safer than 59% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $255 per resident a year.
Compare Sunshine with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sunshine. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sunshine 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.
Sunshine detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sunshine: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sunshine: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sunshine: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sunshine: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sunshine 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.