Best PlacesWaukee, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Waukee, 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.
Waukee ranks 41st of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Waukee
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.
Waukee's strengths and weaknesses
Where Waukee ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 98% of cities
- School gradeA+, better than 97% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 97% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 93% of cities
Where Waukee ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 14% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 14% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 20% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 31% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Waukee
A household needs to earn about $107,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Waukee home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $113,358, 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 Waukee's effective rate of 1.49%, 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 Waukee
Waukee runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Waukee.
Who works in Waukee, and how
Work in Waukee centers on finance & insurance and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Waukee
Waukee has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of cities and more parkland per resident than 83% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Waukee and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Waukee, month by month
Waukee sees roughly 82 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 Waukee
The nearest airport, Des Moines International, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 107 miles away.
The best schools in and around Waukee
Schools across Waukee average an A+, better than 97% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Shuler Elementary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- North Ridge ElementaryA+ · 83% proficient
- Walnut Hills Elementary SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
Top middle schools
- Van Meter Middle SchoolA+ · 86% proficient
- Waukee Middle SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Dallas Center-grimes Middle SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
Top high schools
- Adm Senior High SchoolA · 79% proficient
- Dallas Center-grimes High SchoolA · 77% proficient
- Waukee High SchoolA · 76% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Waukee school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Waukee 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 Waukee against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Waukee suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 93% of cities and 22% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Waukee
Is Waukee a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Waukee ranks 41st of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a strong job market, good schools, and state finances, and lowest on tree cover 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 Waukee expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $374,557. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $113,358 median income, cost of living beats 93% of cities.
Is Waukee safe?
Yes, Waukee is safer than 88% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $207 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Waukee?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 15. That works out to about 82 pleasant days a year, more than 47% of cities.
Is Waukee good for families?
Schools beat 97% of cities, crime safety beats 88%, and childcare runs $812 a month.
Compare Waukee with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Waukee. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Waukee 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.
Waukee detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Waukee: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Waukee: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Waukee: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Waukee: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Waukee 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.