Best PlacesUnion Center, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Union Center, 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.
Union Center ranks 1,813th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Union Center
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.
Union Center's strengths and weaknesses
Where Union Center ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 96% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- QuietBetter than 91% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of towns
Where Union Center ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 24% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Union Center
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Union Center home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $106,369, 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 Union Center's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 Union Center
Union Center's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Union Center.
Who works in Union Center, and how
Work in Union Center centers on agriculture & forestry and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Union Center
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Union Center.
What the weather is like in Union Center, month by month
Union Center sees roughly 94 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 61° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 63° | 50° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Union Center
The nearest airport, Sioux Gateway/Brig General Bud Day Field, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 97 miles away.
The best schools in and around Union Center
Schools across Union Center average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Remsen-union Elementary SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Kluckhohn Elementary SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Kingsley Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Le Mars Middle SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Remsen-union Middle SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Pierson Middle SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Kingsley-pierson High SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Le Mars High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Mmcru High SchoolA · 72% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Union Center school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Union Center 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 Union Center against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Union Center
Is Union Center a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Union Center ranks 1,813th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, state finances, and what local pay buys, and lowest on tree cover and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Union Center expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $308,721. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $106,369 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Union Center safe?
Yes, Union Center is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $191 per resident a year.
Compare Union Center with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Union Center. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Union Center 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.
Union Center detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Union Center: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Union Center: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Union Center: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Union Center: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Union Center 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.