Best PlacesTripoli, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tripoli, 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.
Tripoli ranks 4,433rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Tripoli
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.
Tripoli's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tripoli ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 92% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 134 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of towns
Where Tripoli ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 17% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 20% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tripoli
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tripoli home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,822, 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 Tripoli's effective rate of 1.19%, 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 Tripoli
Tripoli 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 Tripoli.
Who works in Tripoli, and how
Work in Tripoli centers on manufacturing and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Tripoli
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Tripoli.
What the weather is like in Tripoli, month by month
Tripoli sees roughly 134 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 19° | 12° |
| April | 58° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 64° |
| October | 62° | 51° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Tripoli
The nearest airport, Waterloo Regional, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 151 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tripoli
Schools across Tripoli average an A, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- West Cedar Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Readlyn Elementary SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Nashua-plainfield Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top middle schools
- Denver Middle SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Waverly-shell Rock Middle SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Sumner-fredericksburg Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- Waverly-shell Rock Senior High SchoolA · 76% proficient
- Wapsie Valley High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Nashua-plainfield Junior-seniorhigh SchoolA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tripoli school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tripoli 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 Tripoli against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tripoli
Is Tripoli a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tripoli ranks 4,433rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, state finances, and good schools, and lowest on a weak job market and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tripoli expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $147,449. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $83,822 median income, cost of living beats 86% of towns.
Is Tripoli safe?
Tripoli is safer than 35% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $344 per resident a year.
Compare Tripoli with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tripoli. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tripoli 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.
Tripoli detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tripoli: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tripoli: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tripoli: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tripoli: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tripoli 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.