Traffic in IOWA;Areas to Live (Des Moines, Cedar Rapids: apartments, rentals, condo)

[thesearch]

Hello, I'm checking out a job in Cedar Rapids IA, but I am checking into the surrounding areas to see what it's like to live there. I am looking as far out as Dubuque. How long a drive is it from there to Cedar Rapids? Is there any areas that compare to Dubuque that might be closer to Cedar Rapids?
All responses are very appreciated!

[tmnjus]

Dubuque is about 70 miles from CR and is now 4 lane, so it's about an hour, depending one where you start and finish.... I would anticipate 1 1/2 hours door to door (home to work) for a commute.

What are you looking for in a place to live? There are a lot of smaller outlying communities closer to CR, it just depends on what you want. For example, if nightlife is important to you, most people will opt to live in Iowa City (30 miles) since it's a college town and has more going on. I've lived in CR for 30 years, and really enjoy it here.

Let me know what other questions you have.

Tom

[Chicago60614]

Not sure why you'd opt for Dubuque when you will be working in CR. There's really nothing in Dubuque that should be pulling you away from all the other places that are much closer. CR is perfectly fine, as well as Iowa City to the south.

[thesearch]

Originally Posted by tmnjus

Dubuque is about 70 miles from CR and is now 4 lane, so it's about an hour, depending one where you start and finish.... I would anticipate 1 1/2 hours door to door (home to work) for a commute.

What are you looking for in a place to live? There are a lot of smaller outlying communities closer to CR, it just depends on what you want. For example, if nightlife is important to you, most people will opt to live in Iowa City (30 miles) since it's a college town and has more going on. I've lived in CR for 30 years, and really enjoy it here.

Let me know what other questions you have.

Tom

Thanks for answering my post! I have actually never been to the mid west. I do not know what any of the areas are like in Iowa. I am going by what I find online. I'm trying to decide whether or not to apply to the job. I'm not use to all the snow! I am from the southeast. I'm not into "night life" though I would like to be near a university or college for my kids. Can you tell me your over all description of Cedar Rapids/Iowa City? What's it like there?

[postmortem]

There are lot of people that moved to Cedar Rapids from south east or any other part of US for the job. Eventually they get used to Iowa weather.

You question is too generic. If you are looking for good schools for your kids, then definately Cedar Rapids would be great choice, as all schools in the area have good reputation.

Anyway, Iowa has few developed cities, with Des Moines being most developed and fastest growing, and Cedar Rapids second behind it. There's not much crime yet, when compared to more populated states. Cedar Rapids is a small city; so is Iowa City. Cedar Rapids is more family oriented place, Iowa City is more of a college town. CR/IC together have population of 400,000.

Traffic is not an issue, wherever you decide to live.

[thesearch]

okay thanks.

[innovator82]

I am also from the southeast and am relocating to the Cedar Rapids area fairly soon. I have had a hard time finding a nice condo or apartment to rent. Does anyone have any general ideas such as the best parts of Cedar Rapids (or other areas, like Marion or Coralville) to look or specific suggestions of nice condo or apartment options?

Also, thesearch: any reason why you decided to look at Dubuque as opposed to Cedar Rapids for living?

[thesearch]

Originally Posted by innovator82

I am also from the southeast and am relocating to the Cedar Rapids area fairly soon. I have had a hard time finding a nice condo or apartment to rent. Does anyone have any general ideas such as the best parts of Cedar Rapids (or other areas, like Marion or Coralville) to look or specific suggestions of nice condo or apartment options?

Also, thesearch: any reason why you decided to look at Dubuque as opposed to Cedar Rapids for living?

I had been looking at different town's visitors sites and I liked what I saw for Dubuque. I like the idea of living near the river.


By the way, when looking for my last apartment I used these sites: rent.com move.com rentals.com apartmentguide.com condo.com < Hope those help

I don't know what your looking for, but I liked this one when I saw it online: http://www.rentals.com/Apartments/Iowa/Iowa-City/42641/ the main site> http://www.thelodgeatui.com/

Good luck!

[CINCINNATI91]

There are many places to live in Iowa:

Iowa's Largest Metro's:
1)Des Moines
2)Quad City
3)Cedar Rapids
4)Iowa City
5)Waterloo

You will find a lot of nice sized cities to live, Iowa City is the most expensive to rent/live but this is because of the university. The Quad Cities is also great because it consists of both Iowa and Illinois and has numberous events, parks, concerts, festivals, scenic drives/walks, good interstate system, etc and its a lot closer to other major areas such as Peoria, Iowa/Cedar Rapids and is a 2 1/2 hour drive to Chicago. Des Moines is great for the events that go one there, the only bad thing is that Des Moines is right smack in the middle of nowhere. So when you leave Des Moines its quite awhile till you get to another decent sized area. Hope this helps!

[Chicago60614]

I really don't know why you'd live in Dubuque and work in Cedar Rapids. The two cities function completely separate from each other, they're not really twins, bedroom communities or combined areas where people will travel back and forth constantly. I mean, you could do that, it's only around 70 miles between the two, it's just not common. They're similar enough though that I never really saw any rational reason to not just live in the city where you work.

Cedar Rapids and Iowa City tends to be a much more "shared" place where you can run back and forth between the two without much effort. It's only around 25 miles from downtown to downtown, and less if you're coming/going from the fast growing North Liberty/Coralville areas.

Cedar Rapids is around 200,000 in the immediate built up area, Iowa City is around 120,000, and Dubuque is around 85,000.

Schools are fine in any of them, there is no traffic, and crime is going to be low. Dubuque is more Catholic, not growing fast, but a quality place to live. It's a little older of a city and is fairly quiet.

Cedar Rapids is the largest of the group, well over twice the size of the Dubuque area, and about 2/3 larger than Iowa City. It's a nice area, although it's not really growing TOO fast, and can come off a little "vanilla" and "ordinary" to some people. I wouldn't really call it fast paced or exciting.

Iowa City is growing pretty fast, and has a fairly healthy, vibrant and white collar economy at all times due to the large and stable University of Iowa keeping the city chugging along. It tends to have a bit more excitment and amenities for a city its size due to the large student population, people visiting town, the VA and University hospitals, all the sports, etc.