Des Moines or Cedar Rapids?

[WoodwardGirl]

For International Business at a University, I would find it hard to choose between UI in Iowa City and ISU in Ames. Okay, I'm an Iowa grad, so I'd choose UI, but I think both programs have tremendous strengths. Now, assuming you don't want to have to move after two years, that would mean attending Kirkwood and probably living in Iowa City or North Liberty or attending DMACC and living in Ankeny or Ames. I don't know anything about the coursework in this area at either school, but I know that there is a huge international student body population at Kirkwood, which is kind of interesting.

So I think those towns may be better places to evaluate for housing as opposed to Des Moines and Cedar Rapids...? Post-Bachelor's Degree, I don't know that you can plan where the opportunities would be greater... it remains a somewhat specialized field and we probably have less global commerce opportunities here than someone in major trade ports, and it also seems as though most of the really successful folks go overseas for a period of time after school, anyway.

[mfrerkes]

Originally Posted by DSMGuy

Well by that logic, then the KC metro is about twice as big as DM's (just like DM's metro is over twice as big as CR's).

Kansas City's metropolitan area is 1.9 million (as of 2000), so unless the Des Moines metro has rapidly shot up to around 1,000,000 people, your approximation is off by a significant margin.

Your entire argument seems to be based on the premise that bigger is better. You also seem to think that all people are monolithic with respect to qualities they look for in a city. A person moving to Iowa for job and education-related reasons will be less likely to care about who has the tallest building, whose airport has more flights to Minneapolis, or which city's minor-league baseball team has more former players currently in the majors.

There are differences between Cedar Rapids and Des Moines, but they are mostly negligible to any reasonable person.

[DSMGuy]

Okay so KC is a bit larger, but you really have to draw the line somewhere as to what kind of mininum standards you will accept for the place you want to live. Do you want walk into a city's museum or athletic event and think what a small town joke or does it have some entertainment value?

I've lived in larger cities and DM's attractions meet and often exceed that minimum standard, and I am willing to give up some of the WOW factor that big cities have for the convenience of DM's size.

I consider DM a AAA league city as far as what it offers much like larger cities like Omaha, or Oklahoma City. And no, I haven't seen another AAA city in Iowa (unless you consider Omaha part of Iowa).

Reasonable, absolutely. Ok, agree to disagree.

[mfrerkes]

Originally Posted by DSMGuy

Okay so KC is a bit larger, but you really have to draw the line somewhere as to what kind of mininum standards you will accept for the place you want to live. Do you want walk into a city's museum or athletic event and think what a small town joke or does it have some entertainment value?

Some die-hard sports fans might see AAA-level sports as a joke, since very few players at that level go on to have a sustained career in the majors. Art aficionados might regard Des Moines' art museum as a small-town joke when compared to the Guggenheim in NYC. Does that mean they're right, because bigger is better? Visitors from Chicago might not regard The Principal Financial Building as some huge skyscraper, but rather a mid-sized building that would be obscured in their own city's skyline.

Everybody's "minimum standards" are different. Some people don't care about cultural facilities or athletic events at all. Las Vegas hasn't built itself on having world-class art museums or major-league sports franchises. Orlando isn't so popular because of tall buildings or having more flights to Atlanta than any other city in the southeast. New York City isn't world reknown because it has more insurance-related jobs than any other city in the northeast. These cities all carved out a niche instead of conforming to that arbitrary set of "minimum standards" you impose on every city that isn't Des Moines.

I'm glad you like Des Moines. It's a very nice city to call home and an interesting place to visit. That doesn't mean Cedar Rapids (and every other city in Iowa) is beneath Des Moines for livability, however.

[El Rhino]

One time in California I met a girl in a bar. I told her I was from Iowa.


"No kidding? I'm from Cedar Rapids!"


"Oh. Let me guess, you're Czech."


...and she was.

[MovingToIowa]

To be honest the only things that I absolutely care about is: job availability, housing, and getting an education everything else would be a bonus. I am looking to further myself and stop working dead end jobs that we have here in West Virginia (I work in manufacturing a fairly decent job). I just want to thank you all for your answers they have really helped out a lot I never expected to get so many. You guys are great.

[zz4guy]

Originally Posted by MovingToIowa

To be honest the only things that I absolutely care about is: job availability, housing, and getting an education everything else would be a bonus. I am looking to further myself and stop working dead end jobs that we have here in West Virginia (I work in manufacturing a fairly decent job). I just want to thank you all for your answers they have really helped out a lot I never expected to get so many. You guys are great.

I would stick to Cedar Rapids if you want a manufacturing type job. Eastern Iowa has the majority of manufacturing jobs, whether it be in chemicals, machinery, farm products, electronics, vehicles or anything else. Eastern Iowa is where the manufacturing jobs are.

Cedar Rapids is lucky to have many different industries - electronics, equipment manufacturing, farm products, vehicle manufacturing, high tech, accounting/insurance. The only thing lacking is government jobs... but is that really a bad thing?