Moving to Muscatine (Davenport, Iowa City, West Liberty: rent, house, to buy)

[midwestern2012]

I am interviewing for a job in Muscatine.

Can anyone tell me about the town? Is it livable for people from bigger cities and/or welcoming of outsiders? Or, is it as bad as some of the previous threads imply? Is it possible to commute from Iowa City or the quad cities, or is the commute really long and bad in the winter? How are the schools?

Thanks for your help!

[wingit]

A commute from the quad cities is fairly easy. Depending on where in the quad cities you live you can make it to Muscatine in 45 minutes or less. I can leave Muscatine and be at the west side of Davenport in 25 minutes. If you really want to be a near a larger city and work in Muscatine, I would look for a place around Blue Grass Iowa. Nice homes around that area, just outside of the Quad cities but only a 15 minute or so drive to Muscatine. Don't know about the school system in Blue Grass, I believe they are bussed into Davenport. An Iowa City commute would definately take a little longer, it's around 45 miles away from Muscatine, and would have quite a bit of 2 lane driving, whereas Davenport is roughly 25 miles all 4 lane.
Muscatine has it's problems just like everywhere else. We do have a pretty good school system. There are some very nice sub-divisions around the edge of town with some nice areas in town to.
Where are you interviewing at?

[midwestern2012]

Thanks wingit!

I am interviewing with Allsteel in Muscatine.

I've read a few things online about the very poor air quality in Muscatine (one page said the worst in Iowa) and the smell from the ADM plant. Not sure if those are just rants or real problems.

[Dport7674]

The drive between the 2 is pretty easy.

Muscatine is big enough that you won't have to be worried about being an outsider. I used to know a number of people who would drive from Dav to Musc for work. I also know a family friend who drives from Musc to work in Dav.

Dav is bigger and the QCA has more to do, but rent probably cost more and you can always drive to the QC's to do stuff.

I'd imagine the schools in both cities are pretty much the same.

[wingit]

Yeah, Muscatine has air quality issues, but what you don't really find in reports is, that the majority of the impacted area is not where most people would want to buy a house anyway. Not that that makes it right. Most of the air quality issues are on the south end of town. Even most days in the southend, it isn't too bad if the winds are blowing from the west. If you were to live anywhere but the southend you would rarely ever know that the alcohol plant is running. The alcohol plant is actually GPC, not ADM, it is a privately (family) held corporation. Most often the winds are out of the west, so whatever smoke they're blowing goes across the river dissipating into Illinois.

The plant is just starting a 100 million dollar air purification project that is scheduled to be completed over 4 years I believe. Hopefully after it's completion all those affected by the issue will no longer have to deal with it. So, after all that, yes there is an air issue, is it that bad, in my opinion not really, but I live in the northeast part of town and it rarely affects my well being if ever. If I lived in the southend I'm sure my opinion would be very different some days.

As I said before, if you really want larger city amenities but a more quieter life, the Blue Grass area would be a pretty nice compromise. There are some very nice sub divisions around that area. I personally have no problem living in Muscatine, but I've lived here all my life. There are plenty of places that are probably nicer, but I'm sure there are plenty of worse places to be also. As far as being an outsider, I don't think you would have any problems with that at all here.
All Steel is on the north side of town, actually the place has a pretty nice setting for a factory. It is right on the 4 lane (hwy. 61) that goes from Muscatine to Davenport. You would actually just be getting into town from Davenport when you pass All Steel, so it would help a little with commute time a not having to drive on into town.

A couple of other towns you might consider are Wilton, or Durant. Both of those are smaller towns but not too far away from the Quad Cities, or Muscatine. Both have some nice newer sub-divisions around them also. Wilton, or Durant, are probably both 15 minutes or so to Muscatine. Either of those two towns are only 5 minutes or so off of I-80.

So where are you moving from to get to this area? Good luck with the job.

[CSD610]

Originally Posted by midwestern2012

I am interviewing for a job in Muscatine.

Can anyone tell me about the town? Is it livable for people from bigger cities and/or welcoming of outsiders? Or, is it as bad as some of the previous threads imply? Is it possible to commute from Iowa City or the quad cities, or is the commute really long and bad in the winter? How are the schools?

Thanks for your help!

Personally I love Muscatine. My experience has been excellent overall. The drive to Davenport is not really that far, Muscatine is easy to get around, has lots of different restaurants to explore (Riverside downtown for breakfast), The Farmers Diner or Good Earth for Lunch, The Sicilian for Pizza, Subs and other various items. Los Lomas on Park Avenue is excellent for Mexican food then you have Applebees, McDonalds, Burger King, Long John Silvers and HyVee.

The best place to get meat is Fareway Grocery, the Aldi is very clean and well stocked and HyVee is like a wonderland of food. I live in West Liberty and I usually go to Muscatine for groceries instead of Iowa City, it is merely a personal preference for me. The Post Office is across from Fareway with a Dairy Queen in between, Dollar General around the curve and the Goodwill Store is across from Dollar General.

I do not know how the schools are though since my children are all grown and have their own children and they live in Illinois, perhaps someone else can tell you how that goes. The hospital in Muscatine is good and I have found a couple of dentist in Muscatine that are good as well. There is a Mall that is smaller but a Walmart is there as well. Any office supplies or specialty items you might need you would have to go into Davenport, Iowa City (which is much further than Davenport from Muscatine) or you could order online and have things delivered to your home.

Good luck with the interview and I hope you enjoy Iowa.