Best PlacesPeosta, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Peosta, 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.
Peosta ranks 925th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Peosta
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.
Peosta's strengths and weaknesses
Where Peosta ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 97% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- Household income$121,970 median, better than 94% of towns
Where Peosta ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 28% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 28% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 35% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Peosta
A household needs to earn about $98,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Peosta home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $121,970, 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 Peosta's effective rate of 1.05%, 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 Peosta
Peosta 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 Peosta.
Who works in Peosta, and how
Work in Peosta centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Peosta
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Peosta.
What the weather is like in Peosta, month by month
Peosta sees roughly 87 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 Peosta
The nearest airport, Dubuque Regional, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 152 miles away.
The best schools in and around Peosta
Schools across Peosta average an A+, better than 97% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cascade Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Peosta Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Epworth Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- Drexler Middle SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Eleanor Roosevelt Middle SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
Top high schools
- Cascade Junior-senior High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Western Dubuque High SchoolA · 78% proficient
- Dubuque Senior High SchoolA− · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Peosta school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Peosta 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 Peosta against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Peosta
Is Peosta a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Peosta ranks 925th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, good schools, and what local pay buys, 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 Peosta expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $363,745. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $121,970 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Peosta safe?
Yes, Peosta is safer than 97% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $134 per resident a year.
Compare Peosta with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Peosta. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Peosta 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.
Peosta detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Peosta: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Peosta: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Peosta: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Peosta: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Peosta 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.