Best PlacesWorthington, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Worthington, 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.
Worthington ranks 4,440th 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 Worthington
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.
Worthington's strengths and weaknesses
Where Worthington ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 97% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 91% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 85% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of towns
Where Worthington ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 31% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 36% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 39% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 40% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Worthington
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Worthington home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $89,101, 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 Worthington's effective rate of 0.87%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Worthington
Worthington runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Worthington.
Who works in Worthington, and how
Work in Worthington centers on manufacturing and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Worthington
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Worthington.
What the weather is like in Worthington, month by month
Worthington sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Worthington
The nearest airport, Dubuque Regional, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 167 miles away.
The best schools in and around Worthington
Schools across Worthington average an A+, better than 97% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cascade Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Dyersville Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Farley Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top middle schools
- Drexler Middle SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top high schools
- Cascade Junior-senior High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Western Dubuque High SchoolA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Worthington school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Worthington 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 Worthington against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Worthington
Is Worthington a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Worthington ranks 4,440th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, state finances, and few empty homes, and lowest on tree cover and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Worthington expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $219,887. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $89,101 median income, cost of living beats 79% of towns.
Is Worthington safe?
Yes, Worthington is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $193 per resident a year.
Compare Worthington with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Worthington. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Worthington 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.
Worthington detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Worthington: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Worthington: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Worthington: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Worthington: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Worthington 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.