Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Robb House and Spring House and Harris Wagon and Carriage Shop is on the National Register of Historic Places. La Motte has fewer than 1,000 residents, too few for fair grades; the figures below are still real.
Where La Motte beats most towns.
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
Census counts: 161 in 1880, a peak of 327 in 1920, 237 in 2020. The archive holds 5 old photos and papers going back to 2004 and 4 maps from 1901 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in La Motte, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in La Motte.
In La Motte, the typical household income is $84,000, above both the Iowa town median ($69,000) and the median of U.S. towns ($80,000). Among 141 Iowa towns, just one has a higher typical journey to work than La Motte. The top destinations are Dubuque (27%), Maquoketa (13%) and Bellevue (6%). Half commute less than 16 miles.
| La Motte | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 0.8% | 31% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 19 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $84,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 11% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected damage from storms and floods is higher here than in nearly three quarters of U.S. communities. Of the losses FEMA expects in La Motte, 48% come from inland flooding and 12% from tornadoes. Paid flood insurance claims locally since 2016: 4.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Summer afternoons peak near 82° in July, and January nights bottom out around 12°; snowfall runs to about 43 inches a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Over the 12 months to September 2026, the typical home gained 6% in value. Just over nine in ten households own their home in La Motte, above both Iowa’s towns (70%) and U.S. towns (73%).
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
For adults in La Motte, the share who report frequent physical distress is 13%. The town does better than the Iowa average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 2.
| La Motte | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 20% | 16% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 32% | 36% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 12% | 12% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 9.9% | 12% | 14% |
| What stands out | La Motte | IA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults screened for colon cancer | 71.5% | 66.6% |
| More adults seeing a dentist | 70% | 66.8% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 13.7% | 11.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
0.3 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. For La Motte, the concentration of trails is 0.6 miles per square mile. This Iowa town has one park or preserve, 10 acres in all.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. LaMotte Recreational Park | 0.3 mi | 10 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around La Motte. Close and well known come first.
24 mi MountainCharles Mound
14 mi MuseumNational Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium250K visitors a year13 mi MuseumChicago Athenaeum
14 mi TheatreFive Flags Center
28 mi MuseumNational Farm Toy Museum
21 mi MuseumApple River FortCharles Mound: Skye Marthaler, CC BY-SA 3.0 · National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium: Dirk Hansen, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Five Flags Center: Dirk Hansen, CC BY-SA 3.0 · National Farm Toy Museum: Madmaxmarchhare of English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5 · Apple River Fort: IvoShandor, CC BY-SA 3.0
3 within 15 miles of the center of La Motte
About 7 of every 100 La Motte residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Iowa.
Where La Motte’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
City in Iowa, United States
La Motte is a small city in northern Jackson County, Iowa, United States. The population was 237 at the time of the 2020 census. The town was started in the nineteenth century by several settlers from the Eastern United States including Alexander La Motte and David Owen Montague.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
La Motte has fewer than 1,000 residents, too few for fair grades; the figures below are still real.
