Best PlacesUrbandale, MI 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. 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.
Urbandale ranks 15,516th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are 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
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- Household income$100,481 median, better than 85% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 83% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 83% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 82% of towns
Where Urbandale ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Urbandale
A household needs to earn about $75,000 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 $100,481, 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 1.21%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Urbandale
Urbandale'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 Urbandale.
Who works in Urbandale, and how
Work in Urbandale centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Urbandale
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Urbandale.
What the weather is like in Urbandale, month by month
Urbandale sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Urbandale
The nearest airport, Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 88 miles away.
The best schools in and around Urbandale
Schools across Urbandale average a C−, better than 22% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wattles Park Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Hughes Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Bellevue Elementary SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Marshall Middle SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Harper Creek Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Pennfield Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Marshall High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Harper Creek High SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Pennfield Senior High SchoolD · 20% 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 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Urbandale
Is Urbandale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Urbandale ranks 15,516th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and civic engagement, and lowest on car insurance costs and noise. 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 $273,338. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $100,481 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Urbandale safe?
Yes, Urbandale is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $232 per resident a year.
Compare Urbandale with other towns
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.