Cost of Living in Muscatine
Muscatine's cost of living centers on genuinely affordable housing, offset by a real, disclosed above-average property tax rate and a median household income below Iowa's statewide figure.
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Learn moreA genuinely affordable housing market
Redfin's median sale price ran $173,000 for the three months through June 2026, up 15.6% year-over-year -- genuinely affordable relative to national benchmarks, though a real, disclosed spread reaches $332,000 for Movoto's median list price the same period (base record).
Iowa's real, flat 3.8% state income tax
Iowa's real, current flat 3.8% state income tax rate (2026) and full Social Security/55+ retirement-income exemptions apply in Muscatine as statewide (base record).
A real, disclosed above-average property tax burden
Ownwell cites Muscatine's median effective property tax rate at 1.72% -- Iowa's highest among cities it tracks, above both the Muscatine County (1.67%) and Iowa statewide (~1.55%) medians (base record).
Household income runs below the Iowa statewide figure
Muscatine's median household income runs approximately $61,445 -- movers should weigh this directly against the city's genuinely lower housing costs rather than assuming income keeps pace with statewide figures (base record).
Key takeaways
- Muscatine's $173,000 median home sale price runs genuinely affordable relative to national benchmarks.
- Iowa's flat 3.8% state income tax and full retirement-income exemptions apply statewide.
- Property tax runs above both the Muscatine County and Iowa statewide medians (Ownwell's cited 1.72% rate).
- Median household income (~$61,445) should be weighed directly against the city's lower housing costs.
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