Is Sioux City really that bad?? (apartment complexes, rent, unemployed)

[JMsioux]

Originally Posted by 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.

Really not all that indistrialized now, especailly when compared to years gone by when the meat packing industry filled every block south of downtown and along the river. The SC school district is self-described as being "property poor" because of the lack of industrial areas. The Bridgeport area, north of the airport, is the only large scale industrial area in town. There are other industrial buildings throughout town but not really a high concentration. When you add in North Sioux City, SD, the dynamic changes and the industrial concentration changes but in Sioux City proper, not the case.

[runfaraway]

Unless you think $9/hr is a good job forget it! Last person out of Sioux City better turn the light off.

[Omaha Rocks]

Originally Posted by runfaraway

Unless you think $9/hr is a good job forget it! Last person out of Sioux City better turn the light off.

It's kind of weird that this is your first and only post.


Though I don't know the price of real estate in Sioux City, it's important for people to realize that you can earn less, and still have more, in a city where housing is cheap.

[JMsioux]

Housing is inexpensive in Sioux City and may be the lowest-cost metro area in the midwest if not the entire country. Rent, on the other hand, is in line with most cities in Iowa. The equivalent apartment that I have in Cedar Rapids would probably cost $100 more in Sioux City. I think the previous poster was alluding to the fact that recent job growth in SC has seemed to stem from low-paying retail and service sector jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been hard to come by and the business that I left two years ago started their welders at around $12 per hour which isn't alot. They moved up the wage scale relatively fast but it's the starting wage that really gets people's attention.

[BLCLLC]

Yes Unless you compare it with Fort Dodge or perhaps Beruit

[dennybKL]

Packing plants and Illegals , Same in Denison, IA.. Packing plants and Illegals

[dennybKL]

Wait for an I.C.E. raid, Then move there. Ya right that will happen

[texastrigirl]

I grew up in Sioux City and attended U of Iowa in Iowa City and have spent enough time in surrounding cities - Des Moines, Ames, Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls, Spencer, and too many small towns to count and can tell you that Sioux City has its good points - nice people, relatively good public schools (I graduated from North and have many successful classmates who live in major cities and went to prestigious colleges outside of Iowa such as Northwestern, Stanford, SMU), and a range of affordable living choices. My parents still live in the area but finally retired to Dakota Dunes after almost 50 years living on the northside of town. Growing up, we did the things that kids do which is mainly played sports and hung out with friends. It seemed fine to me and honestly I didn't know any better as we did not travel much. Then at 17, I had the opportunity to travel and realized I would probably never go back there. I moved to Denver, then to Texas (Austin and Dallas) and now live in Seattle and I am so thankful I have had the opportunity to see different parts of the US traveling for work. But hands down, Iowans are some of the most hard-working, genuine, nice people you will ever meet. As I quoted on another Iowa thread though...for me, it was a great place for childhood but not for adulthood. And I couldn't convince my husband who is a native Californian to live there anyway! Another HUGE con is it is so hard to travel in and out of SC by plane. And very expensive too.

If I were to live in the Midwest, I'd pick Kansas City and if I had to live in Iowa, I'd live in Iowa City or Cedar Rapids. I have many friends that live in the Des Moines area and love it. Of my graduating class of a bit over 300, I would say a bit less than 30% probably still live in Iowa which speaks to the fact that the state is bleeding its youth. My oldest brother did move back though after 30 years in big cities such as Atlanta. He is sooooo enjoying the fact that there is no traffic there.

If you go to SC, make sure it's over the 4th of July and check out Saturday in the Park. If it's in another part of summer, do a drive up to Okoboji which is just a fabulous lake area.

[JMsioux]

It's beyond hard to travel out of Sioux City by plane these days. Delta only has three outbound flights per day and they are the only carrier at the airport. If you look hard and well in advance, you can get close enough to Omaha costs to make it a wash when you figure in gas and parking. Based on convenience alone, Omaha wins without debate.

Regarding Seattle: Very evious. I went out there in the mid 90's with my then-new wife on vacation and we became such big fans of the area, we started looking for jobs while we were there. Unfortunately, nothing materialized and we had to come back to SC.

[LivoniaMi]

I had a job lead in Sioux City. After going through this thread....I think I'll pass.