Best PlacesJesup, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Jesup, 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.
Jesup ranks 6,905th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Jesup
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.
Jesup's strengths and weaknesses
Where Jesup ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 93% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of towns
Where Jesup ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 21% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 26% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Jesup
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Jesup home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,049, 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 Jesup's effective rate of 1.30%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Jesup
Jesup runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Jesup.
Who works in Jesup, and how
Work in Jesup centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Jesup
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Jesup.
What the weather is like in Jesup, month by month
Jesup sees roughly 134 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 20° | 13° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Jesup
The nearest airport, Waterloo Regional, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 176 miles away.
The best schools in and around Jesup
Schools across Jesup average an A, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- La Porte City Elementary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Jesup Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Dunkerton ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- Union Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Jesup Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Bunger Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Independence Junior Senior High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Union High SchoolA · 71% proficient
- Jesup High SchoolA · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Jesup school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Jesup 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 Jesup against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Jesup
Is Jesup a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Jesup ranks 6,905th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, walkability, and state finances, 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 Jesup expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $198,042. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $85,049 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Jesup safe?
Yes, Jesup is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $234 per resident a year.
Compare Jesup with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Jesup. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Jesup 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.
Jesup detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Jesup: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Jesup: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Jesup: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Jesup: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Jesup 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.