Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,637, settled in 1855. 83% more nonprofits per person than the typical Iowa town.
Mount Ayr’s best subject grades are an A for schools, an A− for cost of living, and an A+ for civic life; its weakest is a C for incomes. Only 8 of the 138 Iowa towns we compare have a lower median rent than Mount Ayr. Mount Ayr is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 70% of U.S. towns. On civic life, just 22 of Iowa’s 271 towns do better. Mount Ayr has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Ringgold County Jail and Ringgold County Courthouse. Mount Ayr has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Mount Ayr beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Mount Ayr Elementary | PK–5 | 280 |
| Mount Ayr High School | 6–12 | 304 |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Iowa), ordered by how far Mount Ayr is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1875.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Mount Ayr, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Mount Ayr.
Its public schools are run by the Mount Ayr Community School District. Its two schools are below. The largest public high school is Mount Ayr High School, with 304 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Ayr ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 280 | A |
| Mount Ayr High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 304 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IA on state tests and graduation
The typical Mount Ayr home is worth about $142,000, up 7.7% in a year, 40% below the Iowa typical home.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Mount Ayr has cold winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 14° and about 21 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
About one in 4 of Mount Ayr’s working residents works in town. Jobs based in Mount Ayr fell to 677 in 2023, 101 fewer than in 2013. Mount Ayr’s average trip to work is 22 minutes, where Iowa’s towns sit at 19 minutes and U.S. towns at 25 minutes.
| Mount Ayr | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 27% | 31% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 19 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 8.1% | 8.5% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Adults 18 to 34 are 16% of residents (23% statewide); people 65 and older are 24% of residents (18% statewide). 28% of residents are under 18 in Mount Ayr, above both Iowa’s towns (23%) and U.S. towns (22%). 25% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 31% across Iowa.
| Mount Ayr | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 28% | 23% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 24% | 19% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 25% | 25% | 29% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.8 points. Across Iowa, 49.8% of residents are women.
| Mount Ayr | IA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 15.4% | 12.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 12.9% | 10.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.5% | 10% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 6.6% | 12.5% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.7% | 12.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 8.3% | 11.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 9.7% | 12.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 12.8% | 10.6% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 11.1% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.6% | 6.7% | 10.4% |
| High school | 32.1% | 30% | 26% |
| Some college | 24.5% | 19.7% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 14.1% | 12.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 17% | 20.9% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 7.7% | 10.5% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,600, single groups can be off by several points
Mount Ayr beats the Iowa average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 6. 43% of adults have obesity in Mount Ayr. Among 141 Iowa towns, just 5 have a higher share of adults who had a checkup this year than Mount Ayr.
| Mount Ayr | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 38% | 35% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 35% | 35% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 20% | 16% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 80% | 78% | 79% |
| What stands out | Mount Ayr | IA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 82.1% | 77.8% |
| More adults getting cholesterol checked | 86.3% | 84.1% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.4% | 8.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 52% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
0.7 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Liberty Lake Park, at 37 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Judge Lewis Park | 0.6 mi | 16 |
| 2. Liberty Lake Park | — | 37 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of Mount Ayr; the nearest are
About 1 of every 100 Mount Ayr residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Iowa.
2 places in Mount Ayr on the National Register of Historic Places.
City in Iowa, United States
Mount Ayr is a city in and the county seat of Ringgold County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,623 at the time of the 2020 census. Mount Ayr is a rural community in southwestern Iowa, 22 miles west of Interstate 35 on State Highway 2. Mount Ayr was founded in 1875 and the community was named in honor of poet Robert Burns’ birthplace in Ayr, Scotland. The “mount” was added to indicate its location on the highest point of land in the area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
83% more nonprofits per person than the typical Iowa town.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.
2 notable people were born here, including Cecil Dolecheck and Heidi Johanningmeier.
