What are people like in Iowa (Ames: home, rent, work)

[mjcten]

I moved to Michigan about a year and a half ago.I regret it tremendously.Most people here are unfriendly,rude and out for themselves.I am a single parent with 2 kids and I don't want to raise them this way.I am looking for a nice place to live.Where people are friendly to one another.Somewhere rural.Thanks for any suggestions.

[Luke9686]

People in Iowa are very friendly, especially in the rural areas. You will always get the wave and a friendly "Hello." One bad thing is that being a newcomer you will find it hard to become friends with the locals. I have found that everywhere, but especially in the midwest.

[Milliano]

What kind of place in Michigan are you living in? For comparison.

[CertifiaBully]

In my opinion, which I formed after living in Iowa for 30+ years, people in Iowa are very phony and more worried about appearing to be concerned and interested than in being genuine. So glad I moved to Texas!

[mthawki]

Texas is certainly known for being humble and not concerned with what the rest of the nation thinks of it. LOL

[MissCee]

From everything, I've read, it seems that people in Iowa are the most unfriendly, rude, fake and phony people on the planet. Is it actually that bad?? I'm from Memphis, TN and we have a little bit of everything here when it comes to people, but I will be moving to Iowa soon, will I be in for a challenge in adapting there??

[Pearlbob]

Iowans are light years ahead of people in Memphis in terms of honesty, friendliness, hospitality, education, etc. I have never lived in such a friendly area, and that includes both DSM and IC. Crime is almost nonexistant, people (in those cities at least) are overall very educated, liberal, thoughful, etc. The school systems are phenonmenal compared to the junk we have here.

Iowa is just Iowa. There's no way of explaining it. Hard working people who go to work, send their kids to school, and look forward to the weekends. Check any John Mellencamp song for a reference Seriously though, it's just an overall great state, nothing special about it, no huge touristy sites, no huge cities, things like that. Just a great place to live.

For ME...I like big cities. Right now in my life, I'd be a bit bored in Iowa. BUT if I was raising kids, or a bit older, it would be perfect for me (I'm thinking of the DSM, Ames, IC type areas). There's a point in life where you need to settle down and Iowa overall is great for that.

I have never considered people there to be phony, and I only got that impression once I moved to the south. Having lived in various areas of the country, people in Iowa are just good people, and overall I've found more people in the south that are very close minded phony people. That has been my experience.

[Ben Around]

Pearlbob: "I have never considered people there to be phony, and I only got that impression once I moved to the south. Having lived in various areas of the country, people in Iowa are just good people, and overall I've found more people in the south that are very close minded phony people. That has been my experience."

I agree. I've lived in 5 states and Iowa has the least phony people of them all. There are some negatives that characterize Iowa people, but phoniness is not one of them.

[summer grace]

You can find different sorts of people everywhere. I've experienced lots of different people around here ( NE Iowa/ SE MN) good and bad. There isn't lots of sophistication and simple mindedness abounds but some people are simple and nice, although I certainly have experienced phony people. You can't characterize anybody anywhere as totally bad/good. I think it depends on who you already are, not what the people are like were you move. If you already are like them, then welcome to home! If you are not, then go someplace else.

I, speaking from personal experience tend to get on with people in this area only who were not from here originally, like me. But, I don't want to give people a bad impression when that isn't totally true, who have never been to or are not that familiar with IA. For instance, I was reading the Vermont forum and I've never been there, and after reading about the people there and what it's like had a wholly bad impression and would never want to go there. I don't want people to think that about IA, although who knows about Vermont?

[Jammie]

We've never lived in Ia., but have passed through the state several times on trips elsewhere. We've never encountered a rude person. They seem like good old salt of the earth people. They're friendly and always seem ready to chat if you're sitting next to them in a restaurant. They seem to be very neighborly people.