What do you love and hate about living in Iowa? (Des Moines: how much, school)

[deckdoc]

Lived in Iowa for 20 years~ spent 20 years in service~ returned to Iowa for next 22 years~ recently moved away!

Good things about Iowa?
schools were good
job was ok~ and people I worked with were great
central location made to a good place to travel from
cost of living reasonable

Not so good about Iowa?
Came out of service as a single parent~ in the 22 years I was there after service living in smalltown iowa was invited to someone elses house for anything exactly zero times. People invited to my house~ a lot. Number of times accepted ~ zero

high humidity in the summer
cold in winter
long distances to get to anywhere

I now live in colorado in the summer and Az in the winter~ have many freinds~ beautiful mountain scenery from front deck both places~ lotsa shopping available close~ cost of living as low as Iowa~ beautiful weather~ do not miss Iowa

[kenneth.kahl]

I'd say the Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska metro is Iowa's largest and most diverse city (though most of it's across the river in Nebraska. It has a decent airport and hosts lots of concerts and cultural events. Living in small town Western Iowa has great advantages from my proximity to this hub.

Many statewide attractions, events, photos, etc. can be found at www.traveliowa.com.

Thanks for considering Iowa. It's a cool state. You can message me if you have more specific questions.

[jasperhobbs]

Originally Posted by deckdoc

Lived in Iowa for 20 years~ spent 20 years in service~ returned to Iowa for next 22 years~ recently moved away!

Good things about Iowa?
schools were good
job was ok~ and people I worked with were great
central location made to a good place to travel from
cost of living reasonable

Not so good about Iowa?
Came out of service as a single parent~ in the 22 years I was there after service living in smalltown iowa was invited to someone elses house for anything exactly zero times. People invited to my house~ a lot. Number of times accepted ~ zero

high humidity in the summer
cold in winter
long distances to get to anywhere

I now live in colorado in the summer and Az in the winter~ have many freinds~ beautiful mountain scenery from front deck both places~ lotsa shopping available close~ cost of living as low as Iowa~ beautiful weather~ do not miss Iowa

I find it hard to believe cost of living in Colorado Springs is as low as Iowa.

Jasper

[zz4guy]

Originally Posted by jasperhobbs

I find it hard to believe cost of living in Colorado Springs is as low as Iowa.

Jasper

Have you paid your property tax bill lately?

[jasperhobbs]

Originally Posted by zz4guy

Have you paid your property tax bill lately?

Property taxes are about $1,800 a year for a 2200 square foot average size home. No idea how much property taxes would be in a similar home in Colorado. Perhaps they would be less but cost of buying similar size home in similar neighborhood would be much higher I am betting.

Jasper

[zz4guy]

Residential property taxes are about average. But commercial property taxes are through the roof; some of the highest in the nation. That trickles down to higher priced items at local stores and higher apartment rent (commercial property).

[QuadCityImages]

According to 4 different cost of living sites, I got 4 different answers comparing Colorado Springs to Davenport or Des Moines. A few sites showed the Iowa housing costs being higher, and a few of them showed them lower. One that showed Davenport's cost of living higher than Colorado Springs also showed their "housing cost" in Davenport as $270k, which would be a large new house here, so I don't know how accurate that is. I tend to believe that the cost of living here, even with taxes, is lower, but not by much. Colorado Springs apparently has reasonably priced housing.

[wade52]

When I lived in Iowa, I loved the crisp, clear autumn days with the foilage in full color.

I hated the cold, windy spring days when the ground thawed and it seemed like the whole state turned to a sea of mud.

[Wingfoot]

Originally Posted by wade52

When I lived in Iowa, I loved the crisp, clear autumn days with the foilage in full color.

I hated the cold, windy spring days when the ground thawed and it seemed like the whole state turned to a sea of mud.

Iowas is cool except for one thing, in most places the water,surface and ground, is highly polluted by ag runoff,ag chemicals , fetrilizer etc etc.
Thats why I would never live there.

[Alicia Bradley]

When I scan the Iowa-bashing posts in this thread (many of which seem to have been written by people with fourth-grade reading/writing levels, typing with their tongues), I feel like I'm reading about some alien planet, not the state where I was born. I'm a native Iowan, and my background is upper-middle-class suburban, exactly like you'd find in any other upper-middle-class suburban areas of any other state. In fact, I live in the Washington, D.C. metro area now and am shocked at what a high proportion of the residents are dowdy, uncultured dolts who consider Applebee's (or worse - Rizzo's New Jersey Palace: Fine Steak and Seafood) to be find dining. I'm suffering from a bout of insomnia at the moment and would like to get back to bed as quickly as possible, otherwise this post would be book-length. I get the feeling that "Iowa" to a lot of posters here means "a particular small town in Iowa with which I've had a bad experience." I wonder, are there as many threads bashing small towns/rural areas in southern Minnesota? Southwest Wisconsin? Southeast South Dakota? Northeast Nebraska? Northeast Kansas? Northern Missouri (now that I could understand... heh heh heh... just kidding, MO, I love you), Northwest Illinois (where my mother's family's is from)? *sigh* Like another poster mentioned, to some extent, all rural areas in the U.S. are going to share certain characteristics.