Best PlacesMarcus, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Marcus, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Marcus ranks 3,517th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Marcus
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.
Marcus' strengths and weaknesses
Where Marcus ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute19.1 minutes each way, better than 90% of towns
Where Marcus ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 20% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 34% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 36% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 42% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Marcus
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Marcus home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,868, 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 Marcus' effective rate of 0.95%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Marcus
Marcus 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 Marcus.
Who works in Marcus, and how
Work in Marcus centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Marcus
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Marcus.
What the weather is like in Marcus, month by month
Marcus sees roughly 86 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 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° | 20° | 12° |
| April | 60° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 63° | 49° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Marcus
The nearest airport, Sioux Gateway/Brig General Bud Day Field, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 104 miles away.
The best schools in and around Marcus
Schools across Marcus average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Remsen-union Elementary SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Mmcru Marcus ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Kingsley Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Remsen-union Middle SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Pierson Middle SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Cherokee Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Kingsley-pierson High SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Mmcru High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- River Valley Junior- Senior High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Marcus school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Marcus 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 Marcus against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Marcus
Is Marcus a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Marcus ranks 3,517th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, good schools, and state finances, and lowest on tree cover and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Marcus expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $195,822. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $78,868 median income, cost of living beats 77% of towns.
Is Marcus safe?
Yes, Marcus is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $205 per resident a year.
Compare Marcus with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Marcus. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Marcus 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.
Marcus detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Marcus: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Marcus: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Marcus: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Marcus: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Marcus 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.