How Do You Like Living In Iowa? (Des Moines, Iowa City: trip , job)

[MayberryRFD]

I just found this site and have to agree with Katychicago, it's really bad here in Iowa. If your a Meth addict, dealer, cooker, chop shop operater, thief, or just an all around terrible person move to south eastern Iowa where you can live without the burden of law enforcement. Upstanding citizens need not call and report anything, even if you seen it with your own eyes because it still is not enough... Law enforcement is way too busy arresting the kids for fighting, for smoking cigarettes, for chewing, etc.. But truthfully where I live any thug would consider it "heaven"....

[KRIT23]

Iowa is a good state with good people. North Central and Northwest Iowa most notably.

[TheRole]

I'm not sure why someone would "pick" Iowa intentionally. Chicago is Midwest right? Minneapolis? Kansas City? Des Moines is an OK town I guess, if you like it s l o w ... and conservative.

[PrairieRobin]

I guess no matter where you live,it's all in what you make of it.

I moved to Northeast Iowa (Delaware County) with my family from DC 2 years ago and the change has been mostly good. We don't miss the crime, high cost of living, congested roads, uppity people. The people here, while a little standoffish at first, are very down to earth. Good solid values, incredible support of the community and local schools.

I miss the culture of a big city - museums, music, funky shops. I can drive to Iowa City (60 miles) and find all of that.

The weather can be hit or miss. Fall is glorious, summer is ok with much lower humidity and heat tha I'm used to. Winter is a bear! 3 months of snow cover this year, with almost 2 ft on the ground. BUT...there's not nearly the ice I saw in the east and it doesn't feel as damp.

All in all, I don't miss DC at all.

[Poetrylover102]

Yeah, I've lived here in good ol' IA all my life (21 years to be exact). I'm not your average Iowan, though. I'm a city folk, not a country gal...yeah, that's right, there's actually cities in Iowa. It's not completely filled w/ small towns full of farms (contrary to popular belief)...actually, I've never even been on a farm.. Throughout all the 3 metropolitan areas I've lived in so far (Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and now IA City), I've liked Des Moines the best. There's actually stuff to do there (that doesn't include going out and getting yourself wasted) and I don't feel like someone's gonna come up behind me and steal my purse or assault me like they do here in IC. I'm not a big fan of the state, though. It gets kinda boring after a while. I'm just itching to get out of here and move somewhere exciting. There's little diversity and everyone is so closed-minded here, especially those from the small towns who have little to go by. I'm someone who likes diversity and embraces it whenever I'm around a diverse group of people. I do have a problem with the Islamic faith, though. Not because of the bad media portrayal of Muslims but cause they think they're such a superior religion to everyone else that it just plain annoys me. If you've ever read the Koran and you're not a Muslim you know what I mean (by the way, I'm a self-proclaimed Jew..something else that makes me an atypical Iowan cause the majority in this state are of the Christian faith). Well, that's all I've gotta say. Peace!

[bsunshine]

I had the same experience exactly, although it was 20+ years before I was able to get out of there and back to California. Thank God. I go into a tirade now every time I hear the stereotype of the "friendly midwesterners".....pleeeze. I am so happy to be back in CA I could kiss the ground.

[jinxer]

I agree with Cactus Sam and Tek Freek - Iowa is not the most welcoming state. This past winter was the absolute worst with ice built up so thick on I 380 you could barely make it to work. I stay because it is very inexpensive to live here. When I retire I will leave too because they do tax pensions. I also think you could do alot worst than Iowa. Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Quad Cities all great places.......

[neanerbean]

First where are these people from that they can say Iowa is bad. If great. So many people That I know have moved and would love to come back but can't afford to because where they moved is so expensive that they can't move!!

THe 'drug' problem has bend curbed because if new laws and the law is on top of it!!!

ANd for the record Iowans do not have an accent (Professor Dr. Rubach, U of Iowa, Linguistics Department). News stations send their anchors to a place I think in Des Monies to take an intensive course to lose what ever dialect they have. Look it up.

[Michelle_24]

I was born in Iowa and grew up here. I moved to MN for college and then to NC for two years. I have also lived in Idaho for a summer. I can say that I have really enjoyed the people in Iowa. I have lived in a couple different parts of Iowa. For the most part, the people are wonderful. I have always met friendly helpful people if I've gotten lost or needed an answer to a question. There are probably parts of the state, as with any state, that aren't friendly and don't enjoy "outsiders." There are people, just like any other state, that are closed minded. But there's also very innovative people here.
I live in Ankeny and have really enjoyed the growing community. There schools are great and the people nice. I my own business and I haven't visited a gross "moldy" business since I've been in this town and I have now lived in Ankeny for two years.
There are things to do. My husband and I have really enjoyed moving back to the state. I don't think that we will stay here for all of our lives becasue we do enjoy living all around, but it's been really pleasant since we've been here.
I think that with any where there are pros and cons. It's important to find the culture with whereever you're are at. I just went to a Greek festival this weekend and got to enjoy the awesome food. I think that it is what you make it. I lived in NC for two years and at first they called me yankee, but now it's one of my favorite states... I think it's about the crowd you decide to be with.

[gypsy77]

I lived in Iowa, in Burlington and Iowa City. I'm orginally from CA. I did not like living in Iowa at all and the people were not friendly to me. Some were, but I'd say MOST were NOT. Iowa is great if you like long cold winters, months of dreary days, closed minded people, millions of mosquitoes, flooding, tornados, and humidity. Sorry to be so negative but I was very depressed when I lived there. I tried to make the best of it, enjoy the slow paced lifestyle, meeting new people, enjoy the scenery, but it just wasn't enough for me. The "scenery" is only pretty for a few months in the summer, then it's ugly and iced over for the rest of the year. And in the summer I was eaten alive by thousands of giant mosquitoes. It just wasn't for me I guess.