Best PlacesMassbach, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Massbach, 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.
Massbach ranks 39,334th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Taxes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on quiet.
The best neighborhoods in Massbach
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.
Massbach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Massbach ranks high
- QuietBetter than 84% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 67% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 66% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 64% of towns
Where Massbach ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Massbach
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Massbach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,854, 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 Massbach's effective rate of 1.44%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Massbach
Massbach 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 Massbach.
Who works in Massbach, and how
Work in Massbach centers on hospitality & food and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Massbach
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Massbach.
What the weather is like in Massbach, month by month
Massbach sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 23° | 17° |
| April | 59° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Massbach
The nearest airport, Dubuque Regional, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 115 miles away.
The best schools in and around Massbach
Schools across Massbach average a C, better than 31% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Stockton Elem SchoolB · 48% proficient
- River Ridge Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- West Carroll PrimaryD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- River Ridge Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
- West Carroll Middle SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- River Ridge High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Stockton Sr High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- West Carroll High SchoolF · 11% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Massbach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Massbach 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 Massbach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Massbach
Is Massbach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Massbach ranks 39,334th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, state infrastructure, and big-city access, and lowest on taxes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Massbach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $154,229. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $68,854 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is Massbach safe?
Massbach is safer than 35% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $282 per resident a year.
Compare Massbach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Massbach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Massbach 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.
Massbach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Massbach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Massbach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Massbach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Massbach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Massbach 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.