Best PlacesWoden, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Woden, 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.
Woden ranks 10,728th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Woden
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.
Woden's strengths and weaknesses
Where Woden ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 95% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 83% of towns
- QuietBetter than 80% of towns
Where Woden ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 19% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 25% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 28% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 34% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Woden
A household needs to earn about $30,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Woden home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,947, 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 Woden's effective rate of 1.05%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Woden
Woden runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Woden.
Who works in Woden, and how
Work in Woden centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Woden
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Woden.
What the weather is like in Woden, month by month
Woden sees roughly 119 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 27, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 27° | 19° | 11° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 60° | 49° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Woden
The nearest airport, Mason City Municipal, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 119 miles away.
The best schools in and around Woden
Schools across Woden average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- West Hancock Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Lucia Wallace Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Forest City Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Forest City Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Algona Middle SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
- North Iowa Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Forest City High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- West Hancock High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Algona High SchoolA− · 61% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Woden school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Woden 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 Woden against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Woden
Is Woden a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Woden ranks 10,728th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, good schools, and state finances, and lowest on tree cover and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Woden expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $112,570. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $68,947 median income, cost of living beats 56% of towns.
Is Woden safe?
Woden is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $323 per resident a year.
Compare Woden with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Woden. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Woden 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.
Woden detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Woden: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Woden: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Woden: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Woden: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Woden 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.