Best PlacesMaquoketa, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Maquoketa, 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.
Maquoketa ranks 15,177th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Maquoketa
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.
Maquoketa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Maquoketa ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 87% of towns
Where Maquoketa ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 18% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 22% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 23% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Maquoketa
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Maquoketa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,477, 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 Maquoketa's effective rate of 1.25%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Maquoketa
Maquoketa runs older than the country, 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 Maquoketa.
Who works in Maquoketa, and how
Work in Maquoketa centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Maquoketa
Maquoketa has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of towns and more parkland per resident than 97% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Maquoketa and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Maquoketa, month by month
Maquoketa sees roughly 86 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 21° | 12° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 35° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 64° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Maquoketa
The nearest airport, Dubuque Regional, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 142 miles away.
The best schools in and around Maquoketa
Schools across Maquoketa average an A−, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Delwood Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Andrew Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Ekstrand Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central Dewitt Intermediate SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
- Maquoketa Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Cascade Junior-senior High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Central Dewitt High SchoolA · 77% proficient
- Bellevue High SchoolA− · 66% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Maquoketa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Maquoketa 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 Maquoketa against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Maquoketa
Is Maquoketa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Maquoketa ranks 15,177th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, civic engagement, and biking, 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 Maquoketa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $159,077. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $65,477 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is Maquoketa safe?
Maquoketa is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $285 per resident a year.
Compare Maquoketa with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Maquoketa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Maquoketa 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.
Maquoketa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Maquoketa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Maquoketa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Maquoketa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Maquoketa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Maquoketa 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.