Best PlacesTipton, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tipton, 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.
Tipton ranks 6,908th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Tipton
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.
Tipton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tipton ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 90% of towns
- BikingBetter than 87% of towns
Where Tipton ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 21% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 38% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 38% of towns
- TransitBetter than only 44% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tipton
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tipton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,395, 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 Tipton's effective rate of 1.22%, 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 Tipton
Tipton 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 Tipton.
Who works in Tipton, and how
Work in Tipton centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Tipton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Tipton.
What the weather is like in Tipton, month by month
Tipton sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 23° | 16° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Tipton
The nearest airport, The Eastern Iowa, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 167 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tipton
Schools across Tipton average an A, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wilton Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Tipton Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Bennett Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tipton Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
Top high schools
- Wilton Jr-sr High SchoolA · 71% proficient
- Tipton High SchoolA− · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tipton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tipton 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 Tipton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tipton
Is Tipton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tipton ranks 6,908th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, state finances, and civic engagement, and lowest on property taxes and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tipton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $209,772. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $70,395 median income, cost of living beats 56% of towns.
Is Tipton safe?
Yes, Tipton is safer than 74% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $226 per resident a year.
Compare Tipton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tipton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tipton 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.
Tipton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tipton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tipton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tipton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tipton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tipton 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.