Best PlacesPleasant Prairie, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pleasant Prairie, 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.
Pleasant Prairie ranks 7,972nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Pleasant Prairie
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.
Pleasant Prairie's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pleasant Prairie ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
Where Pleasant Prairie ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 26% of towns
- Household income$59,115 median, better than only 26% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 28% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pleasant Prairie
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pleasant Prairie home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,115, 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 Pleasant Prairie's effective rate of 1.27%, 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 Pleasant Prairie
Pleasant Prairie's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pleasant Prairie.
Who works in Pleasant Prairie, and how
Work in Pleasant Prairie centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Pleasant Prairie
Pleasant Prairie has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Pleasant Prairie and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Pleasant Prairie, month by month
Pleasant Prairie sees roughly 90 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 25° | 18° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Pleasant Prairie
The nearest airport, Quad Cities International, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 168 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pleasant Prairie
Schools across Pleasant Prairie average an A−, better than 83% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Louisa-muscatine ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Mulberry Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Mckinley Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Liberty Middle SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Susan Clark Junior HighA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Louisa-muscatine Jr/sr High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Muscatine High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pleasant Prairie school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pleasant Prairie 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 Pleasant Prairie against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pleasant Prairie
Is Pleasant Prairie a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pleasant Prairie ranks 7,972nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, biking, and cell coverage, and lowest on property taxes and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pleasant Prairie expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $204,183. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $59,115 median income, cost of living beats 26% of towns.
Is Pleasant Prairie safe?
Yes, Pleasant Prairie is safer than 76% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $219 per resident a year.
Compare Pleasant Prairie with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pleasant Prairie. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pleasant Prairie 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.
Pleasant Prairie detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pleasant Prairie: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pleasant Prairie: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pleasant Prairie: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pleasant Prairie: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pleasant Prairie 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.