Best Iowa City/Coralville Neighborhood for Male Gay Couple with Kids (North Liberty: apartment complexes, houses)

[Houstonguy]

Hello, everyone. There's a good chance we are moving to Iowa City in the next few months. We would like to find a tolerant and accepting neighborhood with a good elementary school for our young kids. We need a bigger house because my mom also lives with us, so we are looking at Coralville, but are open to all areas close to Iowa City.

I understand from everything I have read that the Iowa City area, in general, is very tolerant of gay folks. Is there any difference between Iowa City and Coralville in terms of acceptance of a same sex couple with kids.

Any suggestions or insight on neighborhoods to look at when we visit in July would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Stavemaster]

Originally Posted by Houstonguy

Hello, everyone. There's a good chance we are moving to Iowa City in the next few months. We would like to find a tolerant and accepting neighborhood with a good elementary school for our young kids. We need a bigger house because my mom also lives with us, so we are looking at Coralville, but are open to all areas close to Iowa City.

I understand from everything I have read that the Iowa City area, in general, is very tolerant of gay folks. Is there any difference between Iowa City and Coralville in terms of acceptance of a same sex couple with kids.

Any suggestions or insight on neighborhoods to look at when we visit in July would be appreciated. Thanks!

Acceptance is very unlikely to be an issue you'd need to worry about. You may want to focus more on things like what's more affordable, what's closer to where you'll be working, and the school district (Coralville and the west side supposedly had better schools, at least that was the case in the late 90's).

[LHogan]

Iowa City has a VERY large and very welcoming gay community for the population size. You will not have problems in this area being discriminated against. There are a lot of super cute neighborhoods in the downtown area, however, I would recommend looking more into the outlying areas like Coralville or West Liberty if you don't want to have to deal with the college kids.

[jmgg]

Iowa City is a mini San Francisco, you'll love it.

[iowegian]

I'm gay and from Iowa City, and I wouldn't worry about acceptance in any neighborhood in IC or Coralville. Since you have kids, I would personally relocate based on schools.

This is a list of test scores by school, provided by the local newspaper:
Iowa Tests of Basic Skills: The school-by-school scores | Iowa City Press Citizen | press-citizen.com

There isn't a good way to compare schools without looking at all of them, but Lincoln and Wickham have historically had the best scores for elementary schools (but have some of the most expensive housing).

[Chicago60614]

I'm gay and grew up in Coralville for 22 years. It's all very open, there's really nothing any different about Coralville and Iowa City as far as the people who live there. It's just one big community.

Coralville tends to be a little more open and proactive on getting chain businesses and being welcoming to developers, while Iowa City likes to talk about what the prefect scenario is and how anything might hurt small businesses or not be fair to someone else.

There are a few areas that have become a little unstable in the past few years, but nothing that's going to cause chaos or make you fear for your life. Areas that people have issues with tend to be southeast Iowa City below Highway 6, some apartment complexes southwest of the intersection of Melrose and Mormon Trek in Iowa City, and maybe some apartment complexes between 22nd and 23rd aves in Coralville. Really there's nothing too bad, those area just areas my realtor friends in town said can draw up some conversation.

What are you looking for? Big yards and very quiet? Suburban style new housing with kids all over? Older more established areas with nice houses? High energy areas with lots of dense housing? In the middle of town? Out in the quiet burbs? Brand new subdivisions?

[libmom]

So... have you learned anything in your search? My (same-sex-couple) wife is trying to get me to move to Iowa City, with our two young kids. Can I piggyback and see what you've learned so far about schools and neighborhoods, since "acceptance" apparently isn't a problem?

[Houstonguy]

Hey everyone. Thanks for all the information. Great to hear such positive things about Coralville/Iowa City from people who live there. Confirms other information i have been reading. Will be visiting next week for a few days to get the feel of the place, look at houses, etc.

[Houstonguy]

I'm happy to share whatever I learn from my visit next week. I am still combing through home information sent by realtor, but based on schools and the amount of space we need because my mom's lives with us, we are leaning towards Coralville, and most of the houses the realtor sent us tend to be newer builds even though i prefer older established neighborhoods.

[timeofseasons]

You should be fine anywhere in the metro, and if you like older homes you may prefer Iowa City but North Liberty would give you more for your money. I would avoid the area known as Broadway in Iowa City.