Best PlacesValeria, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Valeria, 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.
Valeria ranks 4,719th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Valeria
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.
Valeria's strengths and weaknesses
Where Valeria ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Household income$112,187 median, better than 91% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 88% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 85% of towns
Where Valeria ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 7% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 22% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 22% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Valeria
A household needs to earn about $84,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Valeria home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $112,187, 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 Valeria's effective rate of 1.15%, 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 Valeria
Valeria runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Valeria.
Who works in Valeria, and how
Work in Valeria centers on finance & insurance and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Valeria
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Valeria.
What the weather is like in Valeria, month by month
Valeria sees roughly 122 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 22° | 15° |
| April | 64° | 50° | 39° |
| July | 86° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 66° | 53° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Valeria
The nearest airport, Des Moines International, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 136 miles away.
The best schools in and around Valeria
Schools across Valeria average an A−, better than 88% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Colfax-mingo Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bondurant - Farrar Intermediate SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
Top high schools
- Bondurant-farrar High SchoolA · 76% proficient
- Colfax-mingo Jr/sr High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Valeria school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Valeria 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 Valeria against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Valeria
Is Valeria a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Valeria ranks 4,719th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, state finances, and high incomes, and lowest on noise and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Valeria expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $307,514. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $112,187 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Valeria safe?
Yes, Valeria is safer than 67% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $245 per resident a year.
Compare Valeria with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Valeria. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Valeria 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.
Valeria detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Valeria: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Valeria: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Valeria: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Valeria: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Valeria 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.