Comparing of Iowa Cities (Des Moines, Cedar Rapids: best city, insurance, college)

[Deselminator]

After reading several posts where there is much discussion about comparing Des Moines to Cedar Rapids or comparing Des Moines to Omaha, I thought I'd say that I have always found it difficult to find cities to effectively compare Des Moines to. First of all, I must say that as many of you have stated before, Des Moines and Cedar Rapids are very different cities...that I definitely agree with. I find that Cedar Rapids compares much better to the Quad Cities than it does to Des Moines. Granted there are still several differences between CR and the QC, but they are more similar than CR and DSM are in my opinion.

As far as comparing Des Moines to Omaha, I can see why many comparisons are being made, and the cities are very much alike in many ways, however, to me Omaha feels like much more of a "big city" than Des Moines does. And besides climate and industry, there aren't really THAT many similarities betweent the two places. I feel that often times these two cities are compared mostly because they are both in the Midwest. Another comparison I see made from time to time that I feel isn't the best comparison is between Des Moines and Madison. In my opinion, Madison is too much a college town to be accurately compared to Des Moines.

If you ask me, to accurately compare Des Moines to another city, you must not only look at the city's size and main industries, but more importantly you must also find another city that is both a capital city, and that is the only large city in that region. Just as Des Moines is by far the largest and most "important" city in Iowa, the problem with comparing it with places like Omaha or Madison is that these cities are not the only "important" cities in their respective areas. The best city that I can think of to compare Des Moines to is honestly Boise, ID. Both have about the same population, both are capital cities, and both are the only large city around for miles, and thus are regional centers for things such as insurance, banking, and of course government. I would say the second best city to compare to Des Moines would probably be Little Rock for many of the same reasons. When comparing these places to Des Moines, however, you must disregard climate and the attitudes of the people who live there, but I think you will find better comparisons in terms of how each of these cities measure up in terms of cost of living, jobs, crime, entertainment, and amenities. Also I think comparing Des Moines to cities such as Boise or Little Rock, which are in other areas of the U.S., provides a better understanding of how Des Moines measures up to other cities on not only a regional, but also a national scale.

Just my 2 cents on this subject.

[DSMGuy]

I think you hit the nail on the head.

I think DM & Omaha are often compared to each other because of proximity, their AAA baseball teams have a good rivalry, Omaha recently topped DM's tallest building by 4 ft (I don't think that was by accident), DM is always fighting to keep air travelers from going to Omaha instead (DM seems to be holding its own now), and Omaha's zoo is one of the top local destinations for DM people (check out all the Polk & Dallas county plates in the zoo parking lot sometime), both cities built arenas & convention centers recently (they tend to fight for concerts, but will have to concede Omaha is getting the better of it).

To some degree you see Nebraskans visiting Adventureland, but it I don't think it is quite like DM ppl visiting the Omaha zoo. Both metros are expanding at levels never seen before. So, probably a healthy rivalry here. Both likable places.

[QuadCityImages]

I wouldn't call being less than twice the size of the 2nd largest city being "by far the largest."

Des Moines is not to Iowa what Chicago is to Illinois.

[Deselminator]

Originally Posted by QuadCityImages

I wouldn't call being less than twice the size of the 2nd largest city being "by far the largest."

Des Moines is not to Iowa what Chicago is to Illinois.

Well I'm not saying that Des Moines is to Iowa what Chicago is to Illinois. And actually it is by far the largest city...just because Des Moines proper isn't that much larger than Cedar Rapids (which I think is the 2nd largest city), doesn't mean that the Des Moines metro area isn't much larger than the Cedar Rapids metro...and well it is.

[QuadCityImages]

The DSM metro isn't even twice as large as the Quad City metro area, and its smaller than the Omaha-CB metro.

I just don't feel like many people outside of central Iowa feel DSM is "by far" the dominant anything in Iowa, except skyline. Yes, its the state capital and biggest city, but it isn't the same as a city like Omaha being the dominant city of Nebraska, the Twin Cities in Minnesota, SLC in Utah, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I love DSM and its growing so fast for a reason, but I think a lot of people in the metro have a very DSM-centric view of Iowa. Its interesting because it seems like a lot of people in the QC area have the opposite problem, not enough pride in our area.

[zz4guy]

Actually I think the quad cities and Des Moines are about the same MSA. 400,000 people? I'm sure the Des Moines crowd will come down like a hammer if I am wrong.

I would have to agree w/the OP on comparing cities. Eastern Iowa cities are heavily based in manufacturing while Des Moines and western Iowa is mainly farming and non-manufacturing jobs. That's why it is always so awkward to compare them.

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by zz4guy

Actually I think the quad cities and Des Moines are about the same MSA. 400,000 people? I'm sure the Des Moines crowd will come down like a hammer if I am wrong.

.

About 600,000-ish.

[QuadCityImages]

In decades past our metros were similar size, but in the 1980's the Quad Cities took a huge hit and we're only recently recovering. The Quad Cities' MSA population is similar to what it was in 1970, whereas DSM has been growing fairly steadily. I think the QC is on the edge of turning our stagnant growth into actual growth, but we'll see.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by QuadCityImages

I wouldn't call being less than twice the size of the 2nd largest city being "by far the largest."

Des Moines is not to Iowa what Chicago is to Illinois.

Agreed. Chicago tends to dominate most things within 200 miles of it. I grew up in Eastern Iowa, and while we went to Des Moines to see my grandmother, the city wasn't really BIG enough to offer a ton of things we couldn't find anywhere else. I think for vacations and going to the "dominent" city in the region, we always tended to turn our eyes towards Chicago/Madison/Milwaukee rather than west towards Des Moines or Omaha.

Not saying I don't love Des Moines, I think it's an awesome city, and the economy is doing great. Once you get out of central Iowa though, the city really doesn't have a huge pull from the rest of the state. Omaha and the Quad Cities/Chicago tend to shut off the influence on the east and west, and St. Louis and Minneapolis tend to shut off the influence on the north and south. Once you get up into northern Iowa, you might be more inclined to drive an extra hour or so and go to the Twin Cities than a couple hours down south to Des Moines.

Just my random thought...

[Deselminator]

For the record, I originally stated in the thread that I didn't think Des Moines could be compared very well with other Midwestern cities...and yes that includes Chicago, Omaha, and many of the other cities that are being mentioned. I thought that the point of this thread was to talk about cities that would or wouldn't be good cities to compare Des Moines to, not to talk about why Des Moines isn't Chicago.

Honestly, as much as I don't like Des Moines, I can at least acknowledge that it is indeed the largest and most "important" city in the state. That was the only point I was trying to make about that, I wasn't trying to say that Des Moines is a world-renowned city or anything...just that it's important to compare it to other cities which are similar in the fact that they are the largest cities in their respective states, and that they are capital cities. Des Moines DOES fit both of those characteristics, so I guess I don't see what the argument is about.