Geographically, it is part of the Driftless Area, a portion of North America that escaped all three phases of the Wisconsin Glaciation.

Dubuque is a regional tourist destination featuring the city's unique architecture, casinos and riverside location.

While Dubuque has historically been a center of manufacturing, the local economy also includes health care, publishing, and financial service sectors.

In 1788, he received permission from the Spanish government and the local Meskwaki people to mine the area's rich lead deposits.

Dubuque became a center for the timber industry because of its proximity to forests in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and was later dominated by various mill working businesses.

The city's large Roman Catholic congregations led to its designation as the seat of the newly established Archdiocese of Dubuque.

"The people were friendly, everyone knew everybody else, and there wasn't a thing to do: no excitement, few restaurants or recreation choices, a decaying slum section.

"[12] A series of changes in manufacturing and the onset of the Farm Crisis in the 1980s led to a large decline in the sector and the city's economy as a whole.

[18] Historic landmarks like the Shot Tower and the Dubuque County Courthouse reflect the city's regional importance.

[19][20] The North End, settled by German immigrants in the late 19th century, remains a working-class area with factories and key sites including Bee Branch Creek, Eagle Point Park, Holy Ghost Catholic Church, Linwood Cemetery, Lock and Dam No.

The South End, historically Irish American, features Irish pubs, churches, and neighborhoods with "old money" homes, including St. Pius X Seminary, St. Raphael's Cathedral,[21] Mines of Spain State Recreation Area and the Wartburg Theological Seminary.

The West End, developed after World War II, is a suburban area that grew with the baby boom, featuring shopping centers like Plaza 20 and Kennedy Mall.

It includes middle-class neighborhoods, parks, schools, and industrial areas, extending into the suburbs of Asbury and Peosta.

[22] Spring is usually wet and rainy, summers are sunny and warm, autumn is mild, and winters are typically cloudy and snowy.

Many important Catholic religious leaders have lived in Dubuque, including its first bishop, Mathias Loras; Fr Samuel Mazzuchelli, OP; Clement Smyth; and Mother Mary Frances Clarke, BVM.

[35][36] In 2022, Ben Jacobs of The New Republic wrote "Dubuque has weathered the economic transformations of the late twentieth century comparatively well.

[41] The Dubuque County Courthouse, with its striking Beaux-Arts architecture, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

[42] The Five Flags Center, built in 1910 and designed by George L. Rapp, holds the distinction of being a National Historic Landmark.

[44] The Mathias Ham House, a 19th-century home situated at the intersection of Shiras and Lincoln Avenues, is also listed on the National Register.

Dubuque's waterfront features the Ice Harbor and, just north of it, the Diamond Jo Casino and Grand River Event Center.

[48] The Colts are a Drum Corps International World Class ensemble and tour the country each summer to attend competitions.

The arts organization Voices Productions spearheaded a project to display large murals by street artists Gaia, Werc, and Gera and others in downtown Dubuque.

[49] The city is home to the Dubuque Fighting Saints, who compete in the United States Hockey League at Tier I Junior A.

From 2001 to 2010, the Dubuque Thunderbirds replaced the Fighting Saints playing in the Tier III Junior A Central States Hockey League at the Five Flags Center.

In 2014, city government officials created four apps to monitor data related to water use, electricity use, transit patterns, and waste recycling efforts.

The City of Dubuque Sustainability Coordinator, Cori Burbach, stated this was "for educating citizens and implementing behavior changes that they control based on the data these applications provide".

[59] For most of its history, Dubuque has been mostly Democratic due to the large numbers of working-class people and Catholics living in the city.

Dubuque and surrounding areas are in the Cedar Rapids/Waterloo/Dubuque broadcast media market, which is monitored by the A.C. Nielsen Company for audience research data for advertisers.

The airport recently had one carrier, Avelo Airlines which operated twice weekly flights to Orlando, Florida, and Las Vegas, Nevada.

On March 15, 2012, the Commonwealth Fund released its first Scorecard on Local Health System Performance; it ranked Dubuque second in the nation.