Where to Live Between Des Moines and Iowa City? (Cedar Rapids: houses, university)

[christied]

Hi there!

My boyfriend was recently accepted to a graduate program at University of Iowa, so we're considering a move from NYC.

I've heard really great things about Iowa City, but I work in digital media/communications, and haven't found many job listings or companies there. It seems like Des Moines has many more options. Is there a town similar to Iowa City--liberal, artsy, cool bars and restaurants--that's located between Des Moines and Iowa City? Would it be crazy to make that commute every day?

I really appreciate any insight!

[fezzador]

Your best bet would be Grinnell. It is about halfway between DSM and IC (an hour in either direction) and it home to a reputable liberal arts college. The downside is that it is a very small community (under 10K) and the commute can be a pain any time of year (it doesn't take much imagination to describe an Iowa winter, and the traffic on I-80 can be surprisingly busy).

If you are alright with that, you can google Grinnell for more information. Being a college town (albeit a small one) I'm sure there is a small handful of bars, shops and restaurants.

[Qwerty]

Crazy Commute and no, there really isn't much between Iowa City and Des Moines that is over 10,000 people and job potential for you is close to zero between the two.

Keep trying in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids areas for jobs, especially at the U of Iowa. Are you on Linked In? Check sites like indeed.com as well as just doing a general business search of the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids corridor and looking on individual websites. This is another good website to check Iowa Workforce Development's IowaJobs - Iowa's Largest Job Bank . Check ACT (the college testing company) too. They tend to hire in that job field and are located in Iowa City.

[Billax]

Take it from a former resident of the place, Grinnell is nothing like Iowa City. Yes, there's an excellent liberal arts college, but unlike Iowa City, Grinnell receives little if any influence from the college in cultural impacts. It is essentially a small, quiet Iowa town with a large population of retired, older folks and farmers. I enjoyed living in Grinnell for its peacefulness, but I also found myself bored and often frustrated at Iowa City being an hour away, i.e., you can't just get up and leave the house and walk down to great book stores, coffee houses, brew pubs, or whatever else you can find in a place like Iowa City--you have to put up with an hour commute there and back.

Unless you are rather hermit-like, or have a lot of extra time to spend on the road, you should not live in Grinnell.

[TWG1572]

I was faced with a similar choice when my job relocated me. Newton or Grinnell would have been perfect for the center of the territory I was covering. I chose Iowa City. There is really no comparison at all - you have small town IA living vs. a more urban environment in a Big Ten college town. I've since moved, but still have lots of friends living in the IC area. Many of them commute to Cedar Rapids or the Quad Cities for jobs. It's not a fun commute, but at least you will be living somewhere where you can have fun when you get home.

Iowa City will still feel small - I've since moved to Madison WI and have always described Iowa City as a downsized version of Madison.

[Billax]

One advantage to commuting from Iowa City, if you have to work on the prairie or even a close-by small town: A lot of NPR time! You'll stay informed! There's also a great jazz station out of Cedar Rapids that helps make the commute enjoyable: KCCK-FM (88.3, I believe).

[atler8]

Great suggestion there Billax.
Radio runs deep in my core going way back & I've used the radio-locator site before & sure enough, the site has info on 40 stations (am & fm band) that it says may be within distant listening of Iowa City. Download info to get the signals via that method is also here as well.
The station locations, call letters & formats are all listed at the link below.

Radio Stations in Iowa City, Iowa.