Best PlacesMoline, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Moline, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Moline ranks 1,569th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Moline
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.
The best areas in Moline
The parts of Moline, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Villa Park
Old Towne, Karstens-City Line & Stewartville
Willard-Wharton & Greater Tartan Oaks
Park Hill
Floreciente & Overlook
Scores across Moline run from about the 5th to the 79th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Moline's strengths and weaknesses
Where Moline ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of cities
- TransitBetter than 97% of cities
- Short commute18.1 minutes each way, better than 93% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 87% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 80% of cities
Where Moline ranks low
- School gradeD, better than only 4% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Moline
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Moline home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,821, 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 Moline's effective rate of 2.09%, 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 Moline
Moline's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Moline.
Who works in Moline, and how
Work in Moline centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Moline
Moline has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of cities and more parkland per resident than 97% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Moline and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Moline, month by month
Moline sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 25° | 16° |
| April | 66° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 69° | 55° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Moline
The nearest airport, Quad Cities International, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 138 miles away.
The best schools in and around Moline
Schools across Moline average a D, better than 4% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Jane Addams Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Bicentennial Elem SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Eugene Field Elem SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Woodrow Wilson Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
- Washington Jr High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
- Edison Jr High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- Moline Sr High SchoolD · 21% proficient
- United Twp High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
- Rock Island High SchoolF · 11% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Moline school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Moline 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 Moline against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Moline suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Moline
Is Moline a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Moline ranks 1,569th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a stable housing market, transit, and short commutes, and lowest on the schools and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Moline expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $156,304. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $69,821 median income, cost of living beats 41% of cities.
Is Moline safe?
Moline is safer than 15% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $364 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Moline?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 16. That works out to about 62 pleasant days a year, more than 11% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Moline?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Villa Park, Old Towne, Karstens-City Line & Stewartville, and Willard-Wharton & Greater Tartan Oaks. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Moline with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Moline. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Moline 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.
Moline detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Moline: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Moline: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Moline: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Moline: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Moline 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.