Best PlacesTraer, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Traer, 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.
Traer ranks 4,876th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Traer
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.
Traer's strengths and weaknesses
Where Traer ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of towns
Where Traer ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 20% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 22% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 26% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 31% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 40% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Traer
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Traer home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,520, 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 Traer's effective rate of 1.08%, 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 Traer
Traer 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 Traer.
Who works in Traer, and how
Work in Traer centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Traer
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Traer.
What the weather is like in Traer, month by month
Traer sees roughly 97 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 23° | 16° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 66° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Traer
The nearest airport, Waterloo Regional, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 186 miles away.
The best schools in and around Traer
Schools across Traer average an A−, better than 86% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dysart-geneseo Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Gladbrook-reinbeck Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
- North Tama ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Union Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- South Tama County Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Gladbrook-reinbeck Jr. High & High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Union High SchoolA · 71% proficient
- Gmg Secondary SchoolA− · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Traer school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Traer 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 Traer against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Traer
Is Traer a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Traer ranks 4,876th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, state finances, and walkability, and lowest on tree cover and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Traer expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $169,285. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $80,520 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Traer safe?
Yes, Traer is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $220 per resident a year.
Compare Traer with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Traer. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Traer 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.
Traer detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Traer: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Traer: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Traer: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Traer: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Traer 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.