Best PlacesWallingford, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wallingford, 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.
Wallingford ranks 11,756th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wallingford
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.
Wallingford's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wallingford ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 85% of towns
Where Wallingford ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 16% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 19% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 20% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wallingford
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wallingford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,147, 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 Wallingford's effective rate of 1.06%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wallingford
Wallingford runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wallingford.
Who works in Wallingford, and how
Work in Wallingford centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Wallingford
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wallingford.
What the weather is like in Wallingford, month by month
Wallingford sees roughly 119 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 17° | 10° |
| April | 58° | 44° | 35° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 61° | 48° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Wallingford
The nearest airport, Fort Dodge Regional, is about 61 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 133 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wallingford
Schools across Wallingford average an A−, better than 83% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Graettinger-terril Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Demoney ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Estherville Lincoln Central Middle SchoolA− · 56% proficient
- Graettinger-terril Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Estherville Lincoln Central High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- Graettinger-terril High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wallingford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wallingford 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 Wallingford against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wallingford
Is Wallingford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wallingford ranks 11,756th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, state finances, and health care access, and lowest on noise and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wallingford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $145,649. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $77,147 median income, cost of living beats 85% of towns.
Is Wallingford safe?
Yes, Wallingford is safer than 58% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $260 per resident a year.
Compare Wallingford with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wallingford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wallingford 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.
Wallingford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wallingford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wallingford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wallingford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wallingford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wallingford 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.