Best PlacesUnion Mills, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Union Mills, 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.
Union Mills ranks 10,467th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Union Mills
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 Mills' strengths and weaknesses
Where Union Mills ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 95% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute18.5 minutes each way, better than 92% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 84% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of towns
Where Union Mills ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 55 pleasant days a year, better than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 15% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 15% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Union Mills
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Union Mills home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,813, 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 Mills' effective rate of 1.03%, 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 Mills
Union Mills 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 Union Mills.
Who works in Union Mills, and how
Work in Union Mills centers on manufacturing and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Union Mills
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Union Mills.
What the weather is like in Union Mills, month by month
Union Mills 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 Union Mills
The nearest airport, The Eastern Iowa, is about 54 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 172 miles away.
The best schools in and around Union Mills
Schools across Union Mills average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Mahaska Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Montezuma Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Montezuma Junior High SchoolA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Montezuma High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- North Mahaska Jr-sr High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Union Mills school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Union Mills 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 Mills against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Union Mills
Is Union Mills a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Union Mills ranks 10,467th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, state finances, and short commutes, and lowest on the weather and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Union Mills expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $200,426. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $71,813 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is Union Mills safe?
Yes, Union Mills is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $198 per resident a year.
Compare Union Mills with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Union Mills. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Union Mills 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 Mills detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Union Mills: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Union Mills: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Union Mills: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Union Mills: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Union Mills 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.