Is Sioux City really that bad?? (Postville, Monona: real estate, crime rates, neighborhood)

[9voltLisa]

It depends what you're looking for. I've lived in Sioux City 41 years. I moved to Moville, Iowa for a year, and lived on an acreage and then moved back to Sioux City. Small town schools are much better than they are here, in my opinion. There is alot more one on one with the children. I hated it when they started shutting down the smaller elementary schools and combining them with other schools. It's scary to see schools having to lock their doors, and you have to be buzzed in for any reason, but I see the reasoning for it. Kids now have to wear i.d. lariats around their necks at all times, so they can be identified. High schools have random drug checks with police dogs sniffing out lockers. Who would've thought? 20 years ago we didn't have anything like that in our high school, and I went to the roughest high school in town, and it wasn't bad. If you are looking to buy a house, it's alot more reasonable than some of the other parts of the country. Houses have been popping up for sale all over the place! There are lots of new companies, especially telemarketing and customer service/phone type jobs, but other businesses, like Gateway, have forced people to move. Sioux City does have packing houses that bring in alot of minorites and illegal aliens. I caught one shoplifting in my store one day and she did not even have a green card. The cop let her go and told me that it costs the city too much money to bring in INS. The city is right on the Missouri, and you can cross one bridge and be in Nebraska or travel 5 minutes further and take a different bridge to go to South Dakota. Gambling is big in this area, and Sioux City has their own riverboat casino, or you can drive across the bridge to North Sioux City, SD where there are slugs of casinos next to each other. The city has been doing things to beautify the town, such as putting in bike and walking paths all over, and having things such as Saturday in the park jazz festival outside which is a two day outside deal with an attached rose garden, Street jams with local bands downtown, and biker nights. Gang violence has been on the rise, but this isn't just here, it's everywhere, unless you live in a town of 500 people. I guess if you're going to move here, you need to experience it for yourself. Check out the neighborhoods, the schools, etc..

[jtv2011]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

Wow! I think I don't want to move there now. I have never seen Sioux City, but I guess I don't know everything. Do you have any suggestions of places to move to in Iowa(or outside of Iowa, but preferably outside of the Southeast) for a person after one's graduation(which I will be graduating sometime in the next year or so)?

ever thought of sioux center? sioux center is roughly 20-30 miles north of sioux city. it has a booming and very fast growing economy. you'll find nice people every where you go. check it out!

[melkreeves]

Okay, I never lived in Sioux City but all of my mom's family lives around there and my sister went to college at Morningside so I did spend a lot of summers and other vacations there. I agree completely that it is a dirty town and it always gave me a very unfriendly, small-town feeling. My friends there who have had problems with their children and the schools... like somebody mentioned, a very high teenage pregnancy rate and very clique-ish. While the Morningside neighborhood where my aunt lives and my sister lived during college is very pretty, it seems that people with the average, run-of-the-mill jobs available can't afford to live there. And the streets are very bad, and extremely confusing. I figure I have probably spent almost a quarter of my life there and still get lost.
That being said.... there are areas around SC that I absolutely love. If you don't mind small towns and living in the country, Kingsley and Moville are both very nice. My grandmother lived in Kingsley for as long as I can remember and I was there this past June for her funeral... it will be sad not to have a connection to this quaint little town anymore. It was so nice to go and see 20-30 kids playing at the town park and not a parent in sight... it's that safe. The schools are small but good (from everything I've seen and heard) and the people are incredibly friendly and helpful. Kingsley has a true sense of community that you don't find most places.

[homansweets]

(little mexico)! hahahaha that was funny. and so true. If you go down west 7th st in sioux city you are in china town, if you go down dakota ave in south sioux you are in mexico!!! Believe me! Is there any restaurants/bars/stores on dakota ave anymore that arent latino owned??? Just crazy.

I know city data says Sioux City is 10% latino but I think that is a typo!!

[Northern Traveler]

Originally Posted by homansweets

I know city data says Sioux City is 10% latino but I think that is a typo!!

Keep in mind that's 10% LEGAL latino hahah.

[michaelpault]

I've been to Sioux City a # of times. There are some nice shopping areas and some good looking comfortable neighborhoods. That said, when you drive through a LOT OF SIOUX CITY you clearly see that this is a place full of trouble about to unravel.

A neighbor told me just this morning that there was a bachelor party there last week and two young men from here got attacked by south of the border locals in S.C. and sliced up pretty badly.

Personally, while I think they have a very nice little mall there... the place needs a serious clean up visit by swat.
Even if you were born out in the pumpkin patch you see it . A lot of the business streets look like dangerous slums. In my mind I was thinking "but this is Iowa, cornland, the innocent midwest!!!" Come on guys clean up this MESS!

Parts of it are like that but then you drive 10 or 20 miles and it's NOT THAT WAY ATALL.
There are some nice little towns. Aurelia is one. Marcus is another.

In my county of Cherokee, I was given very poor information about the right to keep and bear arms in this county. I discovered that the info was totally wrong after I was already moved in and invested in an older home.

If you're not rich, you have no real second amendment rights here outside of your home. You can NOT get a permit to carry for self protection if you're not JUSTIFIED by some business activity. Iowa has it's head up it's...... it is unequal protection under the law to the nth degree. The rich can defend themselves as they move about. The common working man or woman... NO WAY.

The state govt has repeatedly failed to honestly deal with and correct this problem.
State laws in South Dakota are much better as they also are in Mo. Minn, and somewhat better in Nebraska.


House prices can be very reasonable.
the housing market is very slow..good for buyers...not great if you want to move

People often take you at your word... very nice
I have met some very fine people here in the business community. They are honorable, and helpful most of the time.



mostly my town has low crime...though my son ran off a burglar who had smashed the front door glass of the old lady next door.

Generally you can walk about safely in the evening/at night but the police are busy earning their living.

There are some good employers around. RJ Thomas MFG is one that has earned a fine reputation. They make city park tables, benches, grills etc... the bullet proof variety.

There are some decent trucking companies, seed companies, and medical facilities around if you work in those industries.

It will take a while to fit in here. People are nice but also somewhat private. IF you truly fit into a church easily that will help. If not, plan on the fit in time being several years.


Populations have gone down some over the years, and so some of the small town schools are teetering in terms of being funded to stay open.

I generally like the people here a lot but all in all, if I had it to do over, I would have moved an hour west of here to South Dakota. Better laws.... a better fit for me.

[Northern Traveler]

^^ I agree, I would much rather live in a rural community outside of SC and just drive in. Less crap to deal with like losers and low lives/other sioux city drawbacks.

[SonicsFan93]

Sioux Falls > Sioux City

[Northern Traveler]

Originally Posted by SonicsFan93

Sioux Falls > Sioux City

this is what i've heard, i need to check sioux falls out

[DMRyan]

I don't know if these photos do the place justice, but Sioux City is a pretty industrialized little city. It looks like it has a pretty dense core for such a small place too.