Best PlacesWright County, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Wright County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime read low across the board, which puts the choice down to which part suits you. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Wright County ranks 439th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wright 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.
The best areas in Wright County
The parts of Wright County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Clarion
Commutes are shorter, crime runs lower, and it is quieter.
Belmond
Eagle Grove
More households have young kids, though health care is harder to reach.
Scores across Wright County run from about the 42nd to the 84th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Wright County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wright County ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 88% of counties
Where Wright County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 11% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 20% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 21% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 30% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Wright County
A household needs to earn about $37,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wright County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,220, 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 Wright County's effective rate of 1.40%, 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 Wright County
Wright County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Wright County.
Who works in Wright County, and how
Work in Wright 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 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Wright County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wright County.
Is Wright County growing, and who is moving in?
Wright County has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Ames, IA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Wright County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Wright County, month by month
Wright County sees roughly 117 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 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 | 60° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 63° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Wright County
The nearest airport, Fort Dodge Regional, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 148 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wright County
Schools across Wright County average an A−, better than 88% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- West Hancock Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Taft Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Northeast Hamilton Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clarion-goldfield-dows Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Humboldt Middle SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
- West Hancock Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- Humboldt High SchoolA · 71% proficient
- Iowa Falls - Alden High SchoolA · 69% proficient
- West Hancock High SchoolA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wright County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wright 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 Wright County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Wright County
Is Wright County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wright County ranks 439th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on civic engagement, walkability, and state finances, and lowest on property taxes and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wright County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $129,646. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $67,220 median income, cost of living beats 68% of counties.
Is Wright County safe?
Yes, Wright County is safer than 80% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $252 per resident a year.
Compare Wright County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wright County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wright 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.
Wright County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wright County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wright County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wright County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wright County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wright 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.