Best Places52803, IA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 52803, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

52803 ranks 8,065th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.

#8,065
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 52803

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 52803 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

52803's strengths and weaknesses

Top 5%Low disaster risk
Top 10%State finances
Top 10%Walkability
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 52803 with other zip codes.

Where 52803 ranks high

  • Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of zip codes
  • State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of zip codes
  • WalkabilityBetter than 94% of zip codes
  • Short commute17.4 minutes each way, better than 93% of zip codes
  • TransitBetter than 90% of zip codes

Where 52803 ranks low

  • QuietBetter than only 7% of zip codes
  • Low property taxBetter than only 11% of zip codes
  • Local economyBetter than only 22% of zip codes
  • Crime safetyBetter than only 33% of zip codes
  • Voter turnoutBetter than only 38% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 52803

A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 52803 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,737, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$48,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,118
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $166,188 home
Median rent
$934
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$847
Property tax$215
Homeowners insurance$55

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 52803's effective rate of 1.55%, 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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 52803

52803 runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
37
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
15%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.3
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1820%
18 to 3429%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6417%
65 and older15%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 52803.


Who works in 52803, and how

Work in 52803 centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
12%
below the national average
Unemployment
4.4%
about the national average
Job growth
+1.8%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social15%
Manufacturing14%
Hospitality & food13%
Education11%
Retail trade10%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 77%
  • Work from home 12%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 12%

Life in 52803

52803 has more parkland per resident than 93% of zip codes. That concentrates in some parts of 52803 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
67
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 29.2 per 10,000 residents, more than 43% of zip codes
Coffee shops
17
about 7.4 per 10,000 residents, more than 77% of zip codes
Parkland
322 acres
about 14.0 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 93% of zip codes
Living on campus
1,326
students living in college or university housing

What the weather is like in 52803, month by month

52803 sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January32°24°17°
April62°50°40°
July84°74°65°
October66°54°44°

Flying in and out of 52803

The nearest airport, Quad Cities International, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 140 miles away.

Nearest airport
MLI
Quad Cities International, about 7 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
168th-busiest in the US, 24 nonstop destinations
Average drive
10 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 52803

Schools across 52803 average a B, better than 66% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 52803 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


52803 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 52803 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 52803 suits

Families

Schools beat 66% of zip codes.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 57% of zip codes.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 52803

Is 52803 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 52803 ranks 8,065th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on low disaster risk, state finances, and walkability, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 52803 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $166,188. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $68,737 median income, cost of living beats 55% of zip codes.

Is 52803 safe?

52803 is safer than 33% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $390 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 52803?

July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 32 with lows near 17. That works out to about 92 pleasant days a year, more than 57% of zip codes.

Is 52803 good for families?

Schools beat 66% of zip codes, crime safety beats 33%, and childcare runs $737 a month.


Compare 52803 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 52803. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 52803 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.

52803 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 52803: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 52803: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 52803: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 52803: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

52803 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.