Best PlacesWorth County, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Worth County, 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.
Worth County ranks 234th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Worth County
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.
Worth County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Worth County ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 97% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 88% of counties
Where Worth County ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 15% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 29% of counties
- TransitBetter than only 35% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 35% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 37% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Worth County
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Worth County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,663, 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 Worth County's effective rate of 0.93%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Worth County
Worth County runs older than the country, 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 Worth County.
Who works in Worth County, and how
Work in Worth County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Worth County
Worth County has more parkland per resident than 78% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Worth County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Worth County growing, and who is moving in?
Worth County has lost about 3% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Mitchell County, IA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Worth County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Worth County, month by month
Worth County sees roughly 136 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 18° | 10° |
| April | 58° | 45° | 35° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 61° | 49° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Worth County
The nearest airport, Mason City Municipal, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 104 miles away.
The best schools in and around Worth County
Schools across Worth County average an A, better than 97% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Central Springs Elem. Manly CampusA+ · 75% proficient
- St Ansgar Elementary SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Clear Creek Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- St Ansgar Middle SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Central Springs Middle SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Forest City Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
Top high schools
- St Ansgar High SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Forest City High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Central Springs High SchoolA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Worth County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Worth County 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 Worth County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Worth County
Is Worth County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Worth County ranks 234th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on good schools, state finances, and health care access, 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 Worth County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $153,315. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $79,663 median income, cost of living beats 86% of counties.
Is Worth County safe?
Yes, Worth County is safer than 86% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $229 per resident a year.
Compare Worth County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Worth County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Worth County 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.
Worth County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Worth County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Worth County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Worth County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Worth County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Worth County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.