Best Places to Live in Iowa When You're on the Job Market

If you’re looking for a tranquil place to live, you may find it in Iowa. Iowa is covered in corn fields, prairies, and farms. Among the best places to live in Iowa are charming small towns and small cities with relatively little traffic. Iowa offers a high quality of living and low crime rates, making this a good place to settle down. It also offers a strong economy and job market.

Iowa’s large agricultural sector has created a robust food culture. You can find the ice cream capital of the world, many farmers markets, mushroom hunting, roadside stands, and neighbors trading garden produce. But Iowa’s best-known food may be the butter cow, which is created each year for the Iowa State Fair (although the butter is recycled and not eaten).

The best things about living in Iowa include:

• Iowa has a low cost of living and affordable housing.
• Iowa is also known for high-quality schools.
• The state is home to unique natural scenery, such as the Crystal Lake Cave.
• Most places in Iowa have very little traffic.
• There are many opportunities for outdoor activities, including cross-country skiing and rock climbing.
• Iowa plays a key role in kicking off the presidential election, since the state holds the first caucus.
• While Iowa doesn’t have major sports teams, the state’s minor league and college sports teams, such as the Iowa Hawkeyes, have many loyal sports fans.
• The Iowa State Fair has much more to offer than the butter cow. It’s one of the largest state fairs in the country and includes agricultural contests, food stands, food competitions, entertainment, and speeches from political candidates.
• Iowa is also known for a great variety of local events, large and small, such as the Iowa Irish Fest, Tulip Time Festival, Knoxville Nationals race, and the RAGBRAI bicycle tour.

Common industries for the Iowa work force include:

• agriculture
• manufacturing
• healthcare
• education
• service
• IT and communication

Best Places to Live in Iowa

When you’re looking for Iowa work, you’ll find that most cities in the state are relatively small. The best cities to live in Iowa include Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Davenport. If you’re looking for a smaller city with less than 100,000 residents, consider Dubuque, Waterloo, Council Bluffs, or Sioux City.

Des Moines

The state capital of Iowa is one of the safest places to live in the U.S. and has a low cost of living and a healthy job market. But Des Moines has more to offer than safety and a good economy—here you can view contemporary and modern art at the Des Moines Art Center, historical architecture, and scenic nature. For shopping and food, visit the Historic East Village.

Des Moines is one of the best places to live in Iowa if you want to work in technology or manufacturing. It’s home to several major manufacturers, as well as key tech companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook due to its business-friendly economy and tax laws.

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Cedar Rapids

Cedar Rapids is the largest corn-processing city in the world, which means that companies here turn harvested corn into finished products at a larger volume than in any other place. It’s also a center for other food processing, as well as bioprocessing. Among the large food companies located in Cedar Rapids are General Mills, Cargill, and Quaker Oats. You can also find many manufacturing jobs in Cedar Rapids.

Cedar Rapids is known for its cultural offerings and stunning architecture, such as the historic Paramount Theatre, the Brucemore estate mansion, the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library, and the Indian Creek Nature Center. When you live in Cedar Rapids, you can also enjoy quirky shops, wineries, breweries, and public markets like the NewBo City Market.

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Davenport

Davenport has been called the “most livable small town in America.” It’s located next to the Mississippi River and offers scenic biking and hiking trails, over 50 parks, outdoor concerts, and a 50-foot observation deck at Davenport Skybridge. The city also organizes several community events, such as the Festival of Trees, Mississippi Valley Blues Festival, and one of the largest St. Patrick’s Day Parades in the U.S.

The most common job sectors in Davenport are administrative jobs and sales and retail. You can also find many jobs in transportation here.

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Dubuque

If you have an affinity for history and culture, Dubuque is one of the best places to live in Iowa. Dubuque is Iowa’s oldest city, and it has a historic district with well-preserved buildings. It’s a common stop for tourists taking a riverboat journey along the Mississippi River.

Dubuque has plenty of historical sites, as well as a lively culture scene with theater, ballet, the symphony, and museums. You can take one of the world’s steepest railways to Fenelon Place, where you’ll have a three-state view of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

Dubuque is called the Key City because of its history as a common stop for miners looking to start a new life. Today the city offers many job opportunities in business and manufacturing, as well as in healthcare and education.

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Waterloo

Waterloo is a key manufacturing center for several major corporations, such as Tyson Foods. Another manufacturer with a strong presence in Waterloo is John Deere. The company allows visitors to take a tour of its manufacturing facilities, where you can observe how tractors and their parts are made. There’s also a museum at their old factory site, where you can learn more about the company and agriculture in general.

If manufacturing is not your cup of tea, there are five other unique museums in Waterloo’s Grout Museum District that might be more to your taste.

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Council Bluffs

The city of Council Bluffs, Iowa, has a rich history. Learn more about how the railroad transformed the Midwest at the RailsWest Railroad Museum or the Union Pacific Railroad Museum and view traditional architecture at the Historic General Dodge House.

The relatively inexpensive cost of land here spurred Google to build a data center in the area where you can find many technology jobs. As in many places in Iowa, you can also find a range of manufacturing jobs here.

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Sioux City

Sioux City is one of the best places to live in Iowa if you’re having a hard time deciding where to settle down. The north part of the city is in South Dakota, the south part is in Nebraska, and the central part is in Iowa, so the next state may be as close as a few blocks down the street. Sioux City also has plenty to experience in terms of culture—the city has a symphony orchestra, live theater, sporting events, and arts and music festivals.

Looking for a job in Sioux City? It has a large mix of manufacturing and office jobs, with a focus on finance and brick and tile manufacturing.

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Fairfield

Fairfield is an artistic haven that offers a range of cultural options considering its small size of about 10,000 residents. Here you can explore new art at the monthly art walk and watch performances at one of the city’s several creative venues. Fairfield also has walking tours that offer insight into the city’s preserved historic buildings.

The city is known for being a center of transcendental meditation—Maharishi International University has brought several celebrities into town, including Jim Carrey, Oprah Winfrey, and David Lynch. The university is one of city’s biggest employers, but Fairfield also has many jobs in agriculture and manufacturing.

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Find a Job that Goes Beyond Bread and Butter

Is it time to find a new job that feels fulfilling and motivating? Find the next opportunity on Monster. We have many jobs in the best places to live in Iowa and beyond. To apply, start by creating your profile. You can then add your resume, send job applications, and get notifications when employers post new job openings.