Best PlacesMartelle, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Martelle, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Martelle ranks 3,692nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Martelle
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.
Martelle's strengths and weaknesses
Where Martelle ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 91% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
Where Martelle ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 20% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 29% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 34% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 38% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Martelle
A household needs to earn about $83,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Martelle home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $93,528, 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 Martelle's effective rate of 1.03%, 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 Martelle
Martelle runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Martelle.
Who works in Martelle, and how
Work in Martelle centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 30%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Martelle
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Martelle.
What the weather is like in Martelle, month by month
Martelle sees roughly 109 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Martelle
The nearest airport, The Eastern Iowa, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 176 miles away.
The best schools in and around Martelle
Schools across Martelle average an A, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Washington Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Springville Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Lisbon Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mount Vernon Middle SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Anamosa Middle SchoolA · 62% proficient
Top high schools
- Mount Vernon High SchoolA · 79% proficient
- Lisbon SecondaryA · 78% proficient
- Springville Secondary SchoolA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Martelle school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Martelle 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 Martelle against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Martelle
Is Martelle a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Martelle ranks 3,692nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, state finances, and good schools, and lowest on tree cover and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Martelle expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $307,751. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $93,528 median income, cost of living beats 82% of towns.
Is Martelle safe?
Yes, Martelle is safer than 90% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $173 per resident a year.
Compare Martelle with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Martelle. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Martelle 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.
Martelle detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Martelle: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Martelle: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Martelle: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Martelle: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Martelle 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.