Muscatine, Iowa is primarily located on a series of bluffs and hills at a major west-south bend in the Mississippi River.

The river-bend gives the city roughly 260 degrees of riverfront. The "highland" area of the town is divided into three ridge-like hills by Papoose Creek and Madd Creek, each of which flow individually into the Mississippi in downtown Muscatine. The city's main roads follow these ridges and valleys in a spider-web-like fashion. Several large working-class neighborhoods and industrial sectors have been built on what is called "Muscatine Island".

Positioned some 25 miles from the Quad Cities, 38 miles from Iowa City, IA and some 68 miles from Cedar Rapids, IA, Muscatine is the smallest link in a non-contiguous populated area which surpassed 800,000 residents in the decade following the 2000 Census. Despite this relatively high regional density, Muscatine has maintained a small town-small city feel.

In 2012, GCM began working with Clean Air Muscatine (CLAM) and Iowa Physicians for Social Responsibility to use environmental monitoring to improve air quality in the Muscatine area to enhance the community's health, economy and quality of life.