Best PlacesWaukon, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Waukon, 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.
Waukon ranks 19,380th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Waukon
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.
Waukon's strengths and weaknesses
Where Waukon ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 88% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 86% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Household income$100,214 median, better than 85% of towns
Where Waukon ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,160 a month, better than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Waukon
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Waukon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $100,214, 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 Waukon's effective rate of 0.63%, 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 Waukon
Waukon runs older than the country, 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 Waukon.
Who works in Waukon, and how
Work in Waukon centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 59%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 22%
Life in Waukon
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Waukon.
What the weather is like in Waukon, month by month
Waukon sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 29° | 23° |
| April | 59° | 46° | 34° |
| July | 88° | 72° | 55° |
| October | 60° | 47° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Waukon
The nearest airport, Spokane International, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 210 miles away.
Waukon 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 Waukon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Waukon
Is Waukon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Waukon ranks 19,380th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, few empty homes, and population health, and lowest on internet speeds and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Waukon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $286,744. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $100,214 median income, cost of living beats 82% of towns.
Is Waukon safe?
Waukon is safer than 52% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $391 per resident a year.
Compare Waukon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Waukon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Waukon 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.
Waukon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Waukon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Waukon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Waukon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Waukon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Waukon 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.