Best PlacesTerril, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Terril, 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.
Terril ranks 2,567th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Terril
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.
Terril's strengths and weaknesses
Where Terril ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 91% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of towns
Where Terril ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 9% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 17% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 32% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 33% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Terril
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Terril home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $95,238, 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 Terril's effective rate of 0.75%, 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 Terril
Terril runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Terril.
Who works in Terril, and how
Work in Terril centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Terril
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Terril.
What the weather is like in Terril, month by month
Terril sees roughly 120 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 | 58° | 44° | 35° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 61° | 48° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Terril
The nearest airport, Fort Dodge Regional, is about 65 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 139 miles away.
The best schools in and around Terril
Schools across Terril average an A−, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Okoboji Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Graettinger-terril Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Demoney ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Okoboji Middle SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Estherville Lincoln Central Middle SchoolA− · 56% proficient
- Graettinger-terril Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Okoboji High SchoolA · 76% proficient
- Estherville Lincoln Central High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- Graettinger-terril High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Terril school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Terril 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 Terril against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Terril
Is Terril a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Terril ranks 2,567th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, state finances, and good schools, and lowest on tree cover and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Terril expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $262,471. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $95,238 median income, cost of living beats 91% of towns.
Is Terril safe?
Yes, Terril is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $150 per resident a year.
Compare Terril with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Terril. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Terril 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.
Terril detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Terril: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Terril: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Terril: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Terril: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Terril 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.