Iowa ranks as the best state to live in America, U.S. News says | Hacker News Reader

Iowa ranks as the best state to live in America, U.S. News says

desmoinesregister.com

36 pointsnafizh67 comments

I moved away from Iowa, as have a lot of people over the years.

The growth rate lately has been about .5% per year, and the population actually shrunk in the 1980's. [1]

The weather sucks there. It's cold as fuck in the winter, and hot and humid as fuck in the summer. There's maybe 4 enjoyable weeks the entire year.

The politics suck. Steve King is a US Rep from Iowa. For whatever reason Iowa keeps electing him in, and it's embarrassing.

The jobs there suck. Des Moines is a small town, and other cities are even smaller. There just aren't enough tech jobs to keep ISU and Iowa graduates in the state. The best and brightest leave.

Yes, Google has a data center, but it's in Council Bluffs. Have you ever even heard of Council Bluffs before that?

[1] http://population.us/ia/

Data centers don't really lead to many jobs. Prineville, Oregon of all places has a FB one, and it's as automated as can be.

Also, being able to ride my bike here is worth an awful lot: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8UVHrhwCHybhE2LU2

Not sure how much of that kind of thing you get in Iowa.

As an aside - Iowa has an enormous annual bike ride called [Ragbrai](https://ragbrai.com). I’ve wanted to go for years. Those that I know that have done it loved it.

Yes, it's also in July and it's brutal if you ride during the afternoon. That's why everyone does all of their riding in the morning.

Edited to add:

There are biking trails, but the state of Iowa is not particularly bike friendly, because six months out of the year it's impossible to ride your bike.

The bicyclists I knew that lived there did road and highway biking. There's no mountains, so mountain biking is out.

I live in Des Moines, many of us bike year round. The paved bike trails are well maintained in all seasons and there are many miles of them. Snow and ice in the metro areas are promptly removed, though this often takes a while in some of the more remote areas. We also ride single track and winter only trails on fatbikes made to handle the snow. It's fantastic. Also, we have mountain bike trails and we do have a lot of elevation change. The difference here is we have what's called rollers. Ends up being forced intervals and make for a great workout. As a trail steward, I maintain one of the local trails near Des Moines and here's a link to the page that coordinates our efforts and catalogs the trails in the central Iowa region. http://www.centraliowatrails.com/ Whiterock recently opened and is fantastic. ~30 miles of single track and double track with around 3000 ft of climbing for a full lap.

Absolutely do it at least once but do not expect it to be super easy. Most years we average more climbing than Ride the Rockies and it's always 10 degrees hotter on the pavement than the air temp which will likely be in the 90F's. The great thing though, this is not a race, and there's lots of places to stop and relax along the way. You have all day to make it to the next overnight town. Many of us do a gravel route and end up in the same towns every evening as the main ride. Riding gravel is a really big deal here and this alternate route has caught on. The official ride now even includes an optional gravel loop on one day. Hope you make it some summer soon.

Speaking of gravel, I think this is really cool: https://dirtykanza.com/ - it really makes the most of the roads and land they have, even if it's not someplace 'spectacular'. And it looks pretty brutal to boot.

Iowa seems boring to me, but they feature an extreme amount of communities with the greatest income mobility(especially in the districts Steve King represents) in the country.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/i...

The weather sucks there. It's cold as fuck in the winter, and hot and humid as fuck in the summer. There's maybe 4 enjoyable weeks the entire year.

Can confirm.

> "Yes, Google has a data center, but it's in Council Bluffs. Have you ever even heard of Council Bluffs before that?"

Most people working for Google in Council Bluffs probably live in or spend their time in Omaha, which isn't that bad of a city.

This isn't too surprising to someone who has a passing familiarity with the state: thriving college towns, friendly business climate, low cost of living, plentiful land, a strong focus on education and healthcare, smart infrastructure spending, and strong tradition of citizen involvement in government. It ranks highly on many metrics, and, perhaps more importantly, avoids low rankings on others.

This year, the rest of the top five are Minnesota, Utah, North Dakota, and New Hampshire, all well-deserved; Iowa climbs to the top, while Minnesota and New Hampshire have been consistent top performers for many years.

It's enlightening to compare a list of states by inequality to this list [1]. It reveals that many high-demand locales are in fact quite unequal, while many of the states ranked highly in the article are more equal in terms of income disparity between the lowest and highest earners.

On income equality alone, a state like Iowa will be less attractive to someone tolerant of risk and confident in their ability to execute than some other states with wider gaps, but it will remain a good choice for someone seeking stability and a high quality of life.

[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/227249/greatest-gap-betw...

Iowa is a great state. The college towns and Des Moines (the capital) are as fun and forward-thinking as any other state's college towns I've been to, and cost of living is hard to beat. Ironically, in the Related links for this article, there's a story titled, "Des Moines was just named the nation's unhappiest city for workers" [0]. When I was in Iowa, DM wasn't much fun despite being the biggest city in Iowa, but I had heard it had in the past years become much more fun for young folks.

[0] https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/business/2018/...

I got my CS degree from the University of Iowa. Iowa City is a nice town. My parents have lived in Cedar Rapids for the past 20 years, so I've visited Iowa often.

I wouldn't be opposed to moving there, but I also have no desire to make it a target destination.

The tech landscape seems to largely be older, more conservative companies: Rockwell Collins, NCS Pearson, GoDaddy, John Deere, etc.

I went to Iowa as well and really enjoyed Iowa City. I think it’s a great place to get an education but I also lived there for a year after college and was happy to move to a larger city.

Met a lot of people from Chicago who either went to U of I or sent their kids. Nobody seems to want to stay though.

GoDaddy is a "conservative" company among the likes of John Deere and Rockwell Collins?

Des Moines has a large network of skywalks connecting many of the buildings downtown. I think it’s actually a bad idea as far as urban planning is concerned. When you are in the skyways it feels a little bit like walking around a giant airport. They also draw up all the pedestrian traffic and make the city look deserted outside. Not sure if that has anything to do with it but I don’t think it helps.

So do Minneapolis and St. Paul. Let me tell you, they are an absolute blessing in the winter months. Heck, they're nice in the summer months too if you need to cut across a few blocks and don't want to walk amongst the traffic, or it's crazy humid out.

IMHO, I think they're really beneficial. MSP / STP will never be the urban utopia that everyone sees NYC or random European cities as in terms of walkability; we've gotten what, a foot of snow between two days in the last week? It's not unheard of for weeks of summer to break 90 or 100 degrees F.

Heck, the two cities are only a half million between them; the "metropolitan area" constitutes over EIGHT THOUSAND square miles for a grand total of a little over three million people. Traffic- cars, busses, and light rail- are all here to stay, and that means walking city streets is only as nice as you enjoy breathing exhaust fumes and the noise of tires.

I grew up in Des Moines, 50ish years ago, and at that time the downtown area was a dirty, depressing dump that most people only ventured to if they had to go to court. Now the downtown area is one of the most fun parts of the city, and the skywalks were a big part of its rebirth.

Maybe it helps when the weather is too hot or too cold?

Yep that’s the idea. I was not a huge fan of them.

I would need my European/Asian food.....(especially great sushi and some Michelin caliber restaurants), easy beach access, good weather most of the year, and some tech meetups to go to.

Probably not for me.

I just want a decent electronic music scene (anything with regular non-house non-edm events) but that alone means i have to stick to pretty big cities :(

I wouldn't be so sure about that. There was a decent sized EDM festival a couple of years ago in bum-fuck Lolo Hot Springs, Montana (Lolo Hot Springs is basically the last stop in MT on US Rte 12 headed towards Idaho - it's about 40-60 minutes from Lolo proper. It's only claims to fame are the hot springs and Lewis & Clark stopped there. I'm not even sure the population is in the triple digits). Hell, if I'd known about it before hand, I'd have used it as an excuse to visit my parents in Lolo. A couple of my favorite US based d'n'b DJs played that event. Alas, I didn't know about it until well after the fact.

Granted, you said decent scene, and I wouldn't necessarily qualify a single "large" event (for the region) a decent scene, but it doesn't mean there has to be nothing.

edit: Also, some of the regional small cities can attract a lot of shows. Boise, ID is particularly good at it, even with a pop < 250k. Boise also has a pretty decent tech drawing, but that's more on the hardware side, I think, Boise is Micron's headquarters. Boise is also a great city to live in. My parents were there for a while when I was in college. Quite a fun city for its size. Ethnic foods are somewhat limited, but you can get very good Mexican and Basque food there (loved the Basque food in particular).

To be honest, Boise is a gem of a city for it's size. I wouldn't say it has a great EDM scene, but it's got a decent live music scene. Treefort is coming up next month.

Here's how Iowa ranked in each category:

- Infrastructure: 1st

- Health care: 3rd

- Opportunity: 4th

- Education: 5th

- Quality of life: 9th

- Crime: 15th

- Economy: 17th

- Fiscal stability: 21st

My gut feeling is that this report seriously undervalues Economy and Fiscal Stability categories.

After all “It’s the economy stupid”.

I'm not sure. I'd rather be poor in a trailer in New Hampshire than rich in California.

Well I think you're about the only one with that opinion

Yeah, my comment was an exaggeration but certainly grounded in truth.

Economics aren't everything.

I know a couple families who chose near poverty in rural Maine and rural Vermont after similiar near poverty in the Boston area but they're likely outliers.

One of the things that really struck me about VT, NH and ME was that the poorer people never complained much about the state. That wasn't what they saw to be the source of their problems. That's a huge flip from MA.

With all I've heard about CA if I had to choose between CA or that I can't say I wouldn't choose that. I'd probably regret either choice. Good thing I don't have to make that choice. I'll put in my years in the Boston area so I can take a pay cut out in the boondocks and still live comfortably.

Here's how the ranking works:

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings

The current income tax tops at almost 9% but they're currently trying to pass a $1B+ tax cut and would cut the top rate to around 6%. It's currently bracketed so the bottom rate is 0.36%.

Generally the cost of living is cheap as hell for housing and property taxes.

Iowa is a pretty white state, at 91.3% state. In America whites are on average better off than blacks and Hispanics. Therefore whiter states will look good. A serious comparison of states meant to guide decisions on where to live will adjust for demographics, since you obviously won't change race when you move. Even better would be to adjust for race and education. Whites in New Hampshire are better off than those in Mississippi, but if you compare only college graduates, differences will be smaller.

Is this Heaven? No it's Iowa. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8-B5cyfK6A

“Why do all of these angels have ram’s horns?” -Dana Gould

I guess the statistics that would matter more to the HN readers are not there, so I'll ask: what about the tech opportunities specifically?

Very slim, and entry pay for development jobs is outrageously low in my experience. If you're in tech, go for a coast.

Anecdotal evidence from an Iowa > Cali transplant that almost tripled his income within a couple of years after moving.

Tech unemployment is essentially negative in Iowa.

Dwolla Dwolla Dwolla. Involta. And i am guessing a bunch of agi-drone startups.

Monsanto.

Lots of work at Deere. I work there, and just brought on 2 people, and have 4 more in the pipeline.

And being an actuary is the "best" job. But also mind-numbingly boring.

Goes to show that choice of metrics matters.

Here's the whole list: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings

WA #6

CA #32

So glad I relocated. My kids and I constantly refer to being thrilled to have moved to civilization. It is nice to see somewhat objective data backing that up.

Depends on what one is looking for. Iowa is a small rural state with a few medium size urban locations, some of which are college towns. People are genuine, education is highly valued and the community in general is strong. Good beer is readily available :). Some winters are milder than others, and the worst of the summer typically doesn't last more than a couple of weeks. Ragbrai is a unique experience that should not go unrecognized in my humble opinion.

I moved to Iowa During the recession, from California. The people were so nice it was incredible. There's a lot to be said for Iowa. Low cost of living, 4 seasons. Enough snow to make you hate it, but not loathe it. Great tech community. And some of the sharpest people I have ever met.

I've lived in Iowa. It was nice, but too cold for me.

Ragbrai is supposed to be awesome (I didn't ride it, and regret this) and there's lots to be said about a clean, rural state with low cost of living.

Hurrah for those who can hack the cold. I can see how it's #1 for some people.

Can Iowans confirm Iowa Is Great? Also interesting that the bottom 10 states are ones that voted Trump in the last election. Perhaps they figured he would help bring more prosperity to them.

Unhappy and desperate people are more vulnerable to bombastic promises and convenient scapegoats.

What's interesting is that NAFTA is the number one reason Iowa's farmers are doing so well right now. Mexico buys almost all of it's corn from the US [1] and Iowa is a top if not the top producer of corn in america.

So it shocked me that Iowans voted for Trump when he agreed to renegotiate NAFTA. It seems like NAFTA was easy to pick on until people realized that it really is good for Iowa.

[1]http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/corn-war-u-s-farmers-say...

Yes! Come to Iowa if you value your 2nd Admendment Rights. Currently they're in a race to surpass Florida as the most gun friendly state.

Recently passed Stand Your Ground.

https://www.nraila.org/articles/20170630/iowa-critical-self-...

Adding the 2nd Amendment to the state constitution passed a subcommittee on Jan 26th.

https://www.nraila.org/articles/20180126/iowa-right-to-keep-...

Working on Courthouse Carry and School Parking Lot Carry.

Permitless Carry got recently scrapped, but was heavily favored to pass, until someone cast a big shadow by slaughtered a bunch of high school kids. Go figure...

Also, proposed May issue permits, Bump stock bans, semi-auto bans, carry restrictions, and private transfer bans have all been defeated.

http://iowafc.org/news/

EDIT: forgot the /s

I can't tell if you're serious or not. lol.

Who knows - but they issue permits to blind people: https://www.snopes.com/iowa-guns-blind/

Yeah... I forgot about that.

Stop posting links with autoplay videos. Just stop it. You may think it's awesome, but it's not.

When the autoplay videos start people hit the back button immediately and don't bother to read the article.

We’re doing a UI blacklist? Add “fixed floating headers/footers on mobile that make me feel like I’m looking at your sight through blinds”.

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