Best PlacesWaterville, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Waterville, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Waterville ranks 14,377th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Waterville
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.
Waterville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Waterville ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 84% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 81% of towns
Where Waterville ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 22% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 23% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 33% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 36% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 39% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Waterville
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Waterville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,951, 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 Waterville's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 Waterville
Waterville 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 Waterville.
Who works in Waterville, and how
Work in Waterville centers on retail trade and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Waterville
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Waterville.
What the weather is like in Waterville, month by month
Waterville sees roughly 117 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 15° |
| April | 59° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 62° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Waterville
The nearest airport, La Crosse Regional, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 149 miles away.
The best schools in and around Waterville
Schools across Waterville average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- New Albin Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- East Campus Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Mfl Marmac Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lansing Middle SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Waukon Middle SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
Top high schools
- Waukon High SchoolA · 79% proficient
- Kee High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Mfl Marmac HsA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Waterville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Waterville 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 Waterville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Waterville
Is Waterville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Waterville ranks 14,377th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, good schools, and civic engagement, and lowest on a weak job market and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Waterville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $240,135. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $75,951 median income, cost of living beats 62% of towns.
Is Waterville safe?
Waterville is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $305 per resident a year.
Compare Waterville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Waterville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Waterville 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.
Waterville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Waterville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Waterville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Waterville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Waterville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Waterville 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.