Best PlacesWood, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wood, 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.
Wood ranks 11,832nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wood
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.
Wood's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wood ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- QuietBetter than 91% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 91% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 86% of towns
Where Wood ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Short commute33.9 minutes each way, better than only 17% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 19% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wood
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wood home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,014, 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 Wood's effective rate of 0.89%, 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 Wood
Wood runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wood.
Who works in Wood, and how
Work in Wood centers on construction and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Wood
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wood.
What the weather is like in Wood, month by month
Wood sees roughly 116 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 15° |
| April | 59° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 62° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Wood
The nearest airport, Dubuque Regional, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 175 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wood
Schools across Wood average an A, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lambert Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Edgewood-colesburg Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Delaware Middle SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
Top high schools
- West Delaware High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Edgewood-colesburg High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wood school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wood 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 Wood against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wood
Is Wood a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wood ranks 11,832nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, low crime, and quiet, and lowest on biking and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wood expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $210,468. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $77,014 median income, cost of living beats 64% of towns.
Is Wood safe?
Yes, Wood is safer than 92% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $171 per resident a year.
Compare Wood with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wood. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wood 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.
Wood detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wood: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wood: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wood: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wood: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wood 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.