Best PlacesThornburg, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Thornburg, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Thornburg ranks 23,437th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Thornburg
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.
Thornburg's strengths and weaknesses
Where Thornburg ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 86% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 81% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 80% of towns
Where Thornburg ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 55 pleasant days a year, better than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 24% of towns
- Household income$59,253 median, better than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Thornburg
A household needs to earn about $31,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Thornburg home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,253, 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 Thornburg's effective rate of 1.12%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Thornburg
Thornburg 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 Thornburg.
Who works in Thornburg, and how
Work in Thornburg centers on manufacturing and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Thornburg
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Thornburg.
What the weather is like in Thornburg, month by month
Thornburg sees roughly 55 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 25° | 18° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Thornburg
The nearest airport, The Eastern Iowa, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 185 miles away.
The best schools in and around Thornburg
Schools across Thornburg average a B+, better than 75% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tri-county Elementary SchoolB · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- Tri-county Jr/sr High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Thornburg school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Thornburg 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 Thornburg against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Thornburg
Is Thornburg a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Thornburg ranks 23,437th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, low crime, and civic engagement, and lowest on the weather and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Thornburg expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $112,900. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $59,253 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Thornburg safe?
Yes, Thornburg is safer than 89% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $173 per resident a year.
Compare Thornburg with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Thornburg. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Thornburg 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.
Thornburg detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Thornburg: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Thornburg: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Thornburg: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Thornburg: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Thornburg 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.