Best PlacesSwea City, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Swea City, 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.
Swea City ranks 14,943rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Swea City
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.
Swea City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Swea City ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 89% of towns
- Short commute20.8 minutes each way, better than 85% of towns
Where Swea City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 15% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 28% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 29% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 38% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Swea City
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Swea City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,830, 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 Swea City's effective rate of 0.90%, 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 Swea City
Swea City 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 Swea City.
Who works in Swea City, and how
Work in Swea City centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Swea City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Swea City.
What the weather is like in Swea City, month by month
Swea City sees roughly 118 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 17° | 10° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 61° | 49° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Swea City
The nearest airport, Mason City Municipal, is about 52 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 116 miles away.
The best schools in and around Swea City
Schools across Swea City average an A−, better than 89% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Union ElementaryA+ · 73% proficient
- North Kossuth Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Union Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- North Union High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- North Iowa High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Swea City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Swea City 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 Swea City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Swea City
Is Swea City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Swea City ranks 14,943rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, state finances, and a stable housing market, and lowest on noise and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Swea City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $126,063. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $67,830 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Swea City safe?
Swea City is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $268 per resident a year.
Compare Swea City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Swea City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Swea City 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.
Swea City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Swea City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Swea City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Swea City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Swea City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Swea City 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.