Best PlacesUrbandale, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Urbandale, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Urbandale ranks 142nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Urbandale
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.
Urbandale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Urbandale ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 97% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 96% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of cities
- School gradeA, better than 94% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of cities
Where Urbandale ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 15% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 35% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 42% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Urbandale
A household needs to earn about $100,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Urbandale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $118,318, 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 Urbandale's effective rate of 1.60%, 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 Urbandale
Urbandale's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Urbandale.
Who works in Urbandale, and how
Work in Urbandale centers on finance & insurance and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Urbandale
Urbandale has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of cities and more parkland per resident than 90% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Urbandale and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Urbandale, month by month
Urbandale sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 23° | 15° |
| April | 66° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 66° |
| October | 68° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Urbandale
The nearest airport, Des Moines International, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 113 miles away.
The best schools in and around Urbandale
Schools across Urbandale average an A, better than 94% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Shuler Elementary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- North Ridge ElementaryA+ · 83% proficient
- Walnut Hills Elementary SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
Top middle schools
- Waukee Middle SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Dallas Center-grimes Middle SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Summit Middle SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
Top high schools
- Dallas Center-grimes High SchoolA · 77% proficient
- Johnston Senior High SchoolA · 76% proficient
- Waukee High SchoolA · 76% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Urbandale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Urbandale 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 Urbandale against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Urbandale suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 95% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Urbandale
Is Urbandale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Urbandale ranks 142nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on state finances, a stable housing market, and what local pay buys, and lowest on noise and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Urbandale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $344,263. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $118,318 median income, cost of living beats 95% of cities.
Is Urbandale safe?
Yes, Urbandale is safer than 77% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $232 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Urbandale?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 15. That works out to about 83 pleasant days a year, more than 48% of cities.
Is Urbandale good for families?
Schools beat 94% of cities, crime safety beats 77%, and childcare runs $784 a month.
Compare Urbandale with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Urbandale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Urbandale 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.
Urbandale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Urbandale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Urbandale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Urbandale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Urbandale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Urbandale 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.