looking for jobs and trying to pick a location (Sioux City: fit in, crime)

[amanda757]

My husband has tried to get me to look into moving out west. He went to college in north dakota and well no offense but that doesnt interest me.

We live and have always lived on the coast of Virginia, about 45 min. to a hour from major cities (va beach & norfolk) We live in a very rural area with not much going on at all except in the summer.......its turning into a retirement spot for well to do folks and the young locals are finding it hard to start a life here. Median income here just hasnt caught up with the cost of housing here. Frankly we are ready for a change...a real start, people have gotten so pretencious ....and they really have no reason to be

So when I looked up Iowa I saw alot of things that I liked. We are in our late 20's and have two kids (one is in school). I like the busy small town feel but near the city. any tips or sugestions for me...... Then I can get him on here to look for a JOB!! Thanks a bunch!!

[pepe1]

A few small towns that may fit...

Nevada
Adel
Pella
Winterset

Some other nice towns (but a little further to larger cities)

Clear Lake
Iowa Falls
Spencer

[Steve_W]

There are a lot of jobs coming to the Council Bluffs area (entertainment, industrial, technical, etc.) C.B. is located on the western edge of Iowa in the Loess Hills. It is part of the Omaha metro area. (850-900K) There are several small towns just near C.B. with 5-10K population. They have very good school systems here in Iowa but sometimes in a larger city you can run into lesser achieving schools.

Also, the short drive across the river into Omaha offers many more job opportunities as well. Omaha's unemployment is currently at 2.9%. (Almost half the national average)

What kind of job and industry is your husband looking for?

[jbdykstra]

Be very careful if you move to western Iowa. There are a lot of small towns that are very clean, safe and inexpensive, but they also tend to be conservative, isolated and boring. There are only a few places in western Iowa that sort of count as bigger cities with shopping and other opportunities. A few were mentioned in a posting above. If you are looking at small towns, start by looking at the ones that are no more than a half hour or so away from a city like Sioux City, Sioux Falls or Omaha. There are also some nice college-type towns more on the eastern side of the state. Pella, Orange City and Sioux Center are small towns that are super clean-cut but they are populated largely by descendants of Dutch Reformed immigrants and are highly conservative. They have the charm of windmills and tulip festivals, but if you aren't Dutch yourself, you might take a while to feel like you fit in.

[metro223]

Indianola?

[amanda757]

how is the southern or south eastern part of Iowa? I have read some nice things about the college towns as well on these board.

the husband is looking for pretty much anything to get him in the door, he was a deputy sheriff here for 4 years but with a falling out with his boss has kept him from getting another law enforcement job (believe me he has tried numerious times and he keeps getting shot down because a bad reference)

, he has been working with my family seafood biz for the past few years...he has a ascociates degree in fish and wildlife management, and if he would finish one class he would have another 2 year degree (almost alike cant think of the title right now)

[amanda757]

thinking if he finds a job out there we will have to spend some time out there and search around the local areas to get a feel for them....the comings and goings and the people.

just dont know one area from another cause here in my state the land and layout is so different from one spot to another. mountains,beach, rivers, lakes, hilly, flat. some areas are very boring and others super upitty, some have tons of crime and others just about normal. it would be easy to move if it were just me and the husband but with the kids it makes it much harder to commit and do it.

[metro223]

Originally Posted by amanda757

how is the southern or south eastern part of Iowa?

This is the part of the state I probably wouldn't recommend, at least southeastern. It tends to have quite the missouri influence (yep, accent and all) ... not that that is bad, but.... yea. The other thing is there are no areas like you described that are outside of the city but not in the city, simply because there IS no city in SE Ia.

There is, however, beautiful hilly areas such as shimek state forest and keokuk... but if youre looking for that go to dubuque.. its cleaner. but I would never recommend living down there. Like I said earlier, Indianola area outside of des moines? Theres always Newton too... I've heard Pella is weird to people who move there because of theyre dutch heritage, but you could check that out too. Otherwise check out some towns outside of Omaha?

[scimitar12]

You may wind up in one of the larger towns/cities in Iowa. The Cedar Raipds/Iowa City corridor is one "metro" area I would definitely look at; has most of the major shopping people want, good schools, relatively clean area, good neighborhoods, and nice people. Housing will be much affordable versus Virginia. Dubuque would be kind of nice too. Course, Iowa VCty has the university, as does Ames and Cedar Falls which would be nice areas as well.

Where did your husband go to school in ND? I used to work at the Unviersity of North Dakota. Man, those winters really cold. I remember one winter where for a three week stretch the highs never got above zero...

[amanda757]

he went to Bottineau....oh yeah those winters I cant even imagine. My dad has told me stories of really cold winters here in virginia when I was a baby that I cant imagine, so I know I would not like it up there.

the average cost of a house here now is starting to drop but still not with in our reaches yet....so who knows. He has given the family biz one more year and if nothing pans out then we are for sure going to look more seriously into moving. even if its to the western part of va where it is cheaper. we are surounded by water so property here has gotten very expensive

thanks to all you guys Im going to save this info for my husband to check out as well