Help!! Possible move to CR area (Cedar Rapids, Iowa City: apartment complexes, rentals, houses)

[NorthEast-Midwest]

Hello All,

I was hoping some kind folks could help me out. I live in the Northeast and I have been offered a job in Cedar Rapids. I am really struggling with the desicion. I have two small children 3yrs and 6 months.

I have never been to Iowa and would love both positive and negative feedback.

PLease refrain from the it smells posts, etc.

thanks in advance, confused in CT...

[SharpHawkeye]

Welcome to Iowa (maybe)!

Cedar Rapids/Iowa City is one of the best areas in the state, IMO. It would be a great place to raise a family. Most neighborhoods in the area are incredibly safe and welcoming, and many are kid-friendly. Depending on what lifestyle you seek, there are rural areas, small-towns, suburbs, exurbs and urban areas to choose from. Generally, public schools in the area are as good (and in most cases better) than schools in other areas of the country.

Since Cedar Rapids and Iowa City are so close (about a 30-40 minute commute) many choose to live in Iowa City and commute to CR. Iowa City is a college-town, with more nightlife, arts and culture, parks and rec, and generally a more liberal atmosphere. However, taxes and cost of living is generally higher in Iowa City than in Cedar Rapids.

More and more are choosing to live in the suburbs and small-towns between the two cities. Cities like North Liberty, Swisher and Shueyville are examples of this. You can also find lots of small-towns and suburbs on the other sides of Cedar Rapids as well --like Marion, Hiawatha, and Mt. Vernon.

Beyond that, perhaps we could help you more if you had some more specific questions we could answer?

[Roy G. Biv]

Hi NorthEast-Midwest, you're more likely to get a good response if you have specific questions or if tell us exactly what is causing you to "struggle" or what specific things you want in a city.

SharpHawkeye, LOL..."many people choose to live in Iowa City and commute to CR". Thats true but it's also extremely vague. "Many people" also choose to live in CR and commute to Iowa City because CR is cheaper, safer, and a better place to raise kids.

[NorthEast-Midwest]

Thank you for your replies. I am not much of a nightlife person to be honest. This desicion is based on what I can offer my children there as oppossed to here. It seems the cost of everything is the same (Gas/Phone,internet,cable, etc.), with the huge difference of being the housing/Rentals. Which is indeed huge!!

I gues part of my trepadation is also the fact that we will know absolutely no one. We would be leaving a great support network of family here. Having small children that scares me.

Are there any towns or section of Cedar Rapids that if we were to move you would advice to stay away from?

And how often are tornados a factor?

[Roy G. Biv]

Linn-Mar Community School District and the Cedar Rapids Community School District are both good. I'm a high school teacher in the area and there are other districts besides these two, but these are the only two districts I would want my kids in.

Cedar Rapids is a pretty down-to-earth middle class and working class town with a lot of factory and tech jobs. No part of the town is "really" bad but the SE quadrant is the oldest part of town and has all of the poorest and richest people. I bought a 60s ranch-style house for 95k in the NW quadrant (West side of the river) and its in a really good and safe neighborhood. However, be suspicious of any houses in the SE quadrant that are under 100k because there is a small "ghetto" type area over there. You'll see the homes there listed in the 50-100k range. There are also a few questionable apartment complexes but for the most part 90% of CR is nice although by no means glamorous or quaint. I guess you should also beware of the fact that there was just a recent flood which effected homes and businesses mostly on the west side in the low-lying area by the river. There aren't a lot of homes near factories but the closer a home is to the downtown river area the bigger the chance of smelling something. I live a mile away from Quaker Oats which is downtown and I smell it if I'm outdoors maybe once a week (and I don't mind it). The only really smelly one is ADM and that is in the south and can only be smelled if the wind blows Northerly. The North and Northeast area of the town has the most restaurants and shopping and most of the current new housing developments.

Otherwise there are about 150k people in the CR area and whatever "opportunities" you're thinking of are probably not too hard to find, unless you're looking for a nearby ivy league school or a beach For example, music is a pretty big deal in the CR area schools (choir, band, orchestra, drama, etc). The schools are generally between 1500 and 1800 students in size and about 1/3 of each school or more is involved in music programs. That's of course just one example, there are all sorts of different things that kids involve themselves in like in any other city.

As far as tornados go...its a common question people ask but its very rare to find a person who has ever actually seen a tornado. The sirens go off maybe once a year here mostly as a precaution during times when tornadoes are possible and most homes have basements. Most of the time when tornadoes do happen here they are small or moderate sized ones that just touch down for an instant. The damage they cause is very random and isolated so its sort of like winning the lottery. The big huge mile-wide F5 tornadoes that wipe out entire houses or even entire towns are extremely extremely rare and happen more in the southern plain states like Oklahoma. The most I've ever personally heard of in CR is about 5 years ago when one touched down about a half-mile away and tore part of the roof off of a house. Here is a map from the Tornado History Project which is a database of 50,000 tornadoes from 1950-2007 and from that database, here are the ones that went near CR:

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/8774/tornadocrib4.jpg (broken link)

Anyway, let me know if you have any other specific questions.

[Northern Traveler]

Originally Posted by Roy G. Biv

Linn-Mar Community School District and the Cedar Rapids Community School District are both good. I'm a high school teacher in the area and there are other districts besides these two, but these are the only two districts I would want my kids in.

Cedar Rapids is a pretty down-to-earth middle class and working class town with a lot of factory and tech jobs. No part of the town is "really" bad but the SE quadrant is the oldest part of town and has all of the poorest and richest people. I bought a 60s ranch-style house for 95k in the NW quadrant (West side of the river) and its in a really good and safe neighborhood. However, be suspicious of any houses in the SE quadrant that are under 100k because there is a small "ghetto" type area over there. You'll see the homes there listed in the 50-100k range. There are also a few questionable apartment complexes but for the most part 90% of CR is nice although by no means glamorous or quaint. I guess you should also beware of the fact that there was just a recent flood which effected homes and businesses mostly on the west side in the low-lying area by the river. There aren't a lot of homes near factories but the closer a home is to the downtown river area the bigger the chance of smelling something. I live a mile away from Quaker Oats which is downtown and I smell it if I'm outdoors maybe once a week (and I don't mind it). The only really smelly one is ADM and that is in the south and can only be smelled if the wind blows Northerly. The North and Northeast area of the town has the most restaurants and shopping and most of the current new housing developments.

Otherwise there are about 150k people in the CR area and whatever "opportunities" you're thinking of are probably not too hard to find, unless you're looking for a nearby ivy league school or a beach For example, music is a pretty big deal in the CR area schools (choir, band, orchestra, drama, etc). The schools are generally between 1500 and 1800 students in size and about 1/3 of each school or more is involved in music programs. That's of course just one example, there are all sorts of different things that kids involve themselves in like in any other city.

As far as tornados go...its a common question people ask but its very rare to find a person who has ever actually seen a tornado. The sirens go off maybe once a year here mostly as a precaution during times when tornadoes are possible and most homes have basements. Most of the time when tornadoes do happen here they are small or moderate sized ones that just touch down for an instant. The damage they cause is very random and isolated so its sort of like winning the lottery. The big huge mile-wide F5 tornadoes that wipe out entire houses or even entire towns are extremely extremely rare and happen more in the southern plain states like Oklahoma. The most I've ever personally heard of in CR is about 5 years ago when one touched down about a half-mile away and tore part of the roof off of a house. Here is a map from the Tornado History Project which is a database of 50,000 tornadoes from 1950-2007 and from that database, here are the ones that went near CR:



Anyway, let me know if you have any other specific questions.

Iowa is no Oklahoma, but you make it sound like tornadoes are nearly impossible here. We are the 6th worse state for tornadoes yearly and that is numbers not by land area.

I don't mean to scare the OP but I also don't want you to think it will never happen.

That map is VERY inaccurate and misleading as well.

[Roy G. Biv]

There are lots of maps and they are all a bit different. The one above is from a project that is in progress and perhaps only includes relatively major tornadoes that have traveled on land rather than the little typical ones I hear about that have a funnel in the sky, maybe touches down for a bit, and then goes away. But even the more general maps that show Eastern Iowa as being a place with moderate tornado activity have to be put in context. 6-10 tornadoes a year per 1000 square miles means that it is very rare that anyone in iowa will ever experience a tornado in their lifetime.