Best PlacesWestphalia, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Westphalia, 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.
Westphalia ranks 3,364th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Westphalia
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.
Westphalia's strengths and weaknesses
Where Westphalia ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 95% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- Short commute20.9 minutes each way, better than 84% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of towns
Where Westphalia ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 34% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 38% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Westphalia
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Westphalia home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,207, 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 Westphalia's effective rate of 1.19%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Westphalia
Westphalia's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Westphalia.
Who works in Westphalia, and how
Work in Westphalia centers on agriculture & forestry and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Westphalia
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Westphalia.
What the weather is like in Westphalia, month by month
Westphalia sees roughly 117 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 22° | 15° |
| April | 63° | 49° | 38° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Westphalia
Eppley Airfield sits about 39 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.6 million passengers in 2025, with 73 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Westphalia
Schools across Westphalia average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Irwin Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Harlan Intermediate SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ikm-manning Middle SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Harlan Community Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
Top high schools
- Harlan High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Ikm-manning High SchoolA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Westphalia school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Westphalia 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 Westphalia against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Westphalia
Is Westphalia a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Westphalia ranks 3,364th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, state finances, and low crime, and lowest on tree cover and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Westphalia expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $169,589. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $83,207 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Westphalia safe?
Yes, Westphalia is safer than 89% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $176 per resident a year.
Compare Westphalia with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Westphalia. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Westphalia 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.
Westphalia detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Westphalia: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Westphalia: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Westphalia: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Westphalia: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Westphalia 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.