Best PlacesWindom, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Windom, 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.
Windom ranks 18,092nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Windom
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.
Windom's strengths and weaknesses
Where Windom ranks high
- Cheap childcare$467 a month, better than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of towns
- Short commute20.0 minutes each way, better than 88% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 86% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 80% of towns
Where Windom ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 18% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Windom
A household needs to earn about $77,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Windom home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $92,156, 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 Windom's effective rate of 1.18%, 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 Windom
Windom runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Windom.
Who works in Windom, and how
Work in Windom centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Windom
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Windom.
What the weather is like in Windom, month by month
Windom sees roughly 107 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 29° | 21° |
| April | 71° | 55° | 42° |
| July | 92° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 72° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Windom
The nearest airport, Salina Regional, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 184 miles away.
The best schools in and around Windom
Schools across Windom average a C, better than 31% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Windom ElemA− · 57% proficient
- Soderstrom ElemB+ · 53% proficient
- Inman ElemB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Smoky Valley Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Little River Junior HighD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Smoky Valley HighC− · 27% proficient
- Inman Jr/sr High SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Little River HighD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Windom school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Windom 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 Windom against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Windom
Is Windom a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Windom ranks 18,092nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, state infrastructure, and short commutes, and lowest on distance from a big city and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Windom expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $280,533. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $92,156 median income, cost of living beats 86% of towns.
Is Windom safe?
Windom is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $309 per resident a year.
Compare Windom with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Windom. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Windom 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.
Windom detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Windom: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Windom: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Windom: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Windom: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Windom 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.