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Iowa ranks as the best state to live in America, U.S. News says
- danso 9y agoIowa 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/2018/02/08/des-moines-just-named-nations-unhappiest-city-workers/319231002/ https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/business/2018/...
- city41 9y agoI 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.
- danielecook 9y agoI 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.
- ourmandave 9y agoMet a lot of people from Chicago who either went to U of I or sent their kids. Nobody seems to want to stay though.
- isabito 9y agoGoDaddy is a "conservative" company among the likes of John Deere and Rockwell Collins?
- danielecook 9y agoDes 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.
- zdragnar 9y agoSo 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.
- PopePompous 9y agoI 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.
- nine_k 9y agoMaybe it helps when the weather is too hot or too cold?
- danielecook 9y agoYep that’s the idea. I was not a huge fan of them.
- Yhippa 9y agoCan 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.
- PhasmaFelis 9y agoUnhappy and desperate people are more vulnerable to bombastic promises and convenient scapegoats.
- surf_n_terf 9y agoOr, perhaps, those states and the populations of those states have been overwhelmingly negatively effected by the economic and immigration policies of the previous 8 years of government. But, you know, you can just call them racists and morons instead. That's the Liberal thing to do, of course.
- bb88 9y agoWhat'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-mexico-needs-american-corn http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/corn-war-u-s-farmers-say...
- ourmandave 9y agoYes! 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-defense-law-takes-effect-july-1 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-and-bear-arms-constitutional-amendment-passes-subcommittee 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/ http://iowafc.org/news/ EDIT: forgot the /s
- Dangeranger 9y agoHere'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”.
- dsfyu404ed 9y agoI'm not sure. I'd rather be poor in a trailer in New Hampshire than rich in California.
- EpicEng 9y agoWell I think you're about the only one with that opinion
- dsfyu404ed 9y agoYeah, 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.
- phalangion 9y agoHere's how the ranking works: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings
- anthonyleecook 9y agoI 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.
- sincerely 9y agoI 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 :(
- hermitdev 9y agoI 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).
- bb88 9y agoTo 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.
- rational_thots 9y agoLatest Iowa Census demographics: https://i.imgur.com/oRU6HuW.png https://i.imgur.com/oRU6HuW.png Just sayin'.
- bb88 9y agoStop 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.
- SilasX 9y agoWe’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”.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- _RPM 9y agoWho wouldn’t want to live in the middle of a bunch of corn fields?
- PhasmaFelis 9y agoIt's weird how people don't realize that the flyover states also have big, metropolitan cities. When I moved to Kentucky a friend of mine honestly asked me if people wore shoes there.
- jonknee 9y agoIowa has no big metropolitan cities. The largest is Des Moines and it's only a little larger than 200,000 people.
- PopePompous 9y agoDes Moines + its suburbs has a population of 400,000 to 600,000 depending on just where you stop counting suburbs . It's a really nice town.
- arreyder 9y agoNot sure your data source on this, but according to the latest census the Des Moines metro is more than three times that number and the most rapid growing metro in the US. https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2017/03/23/des-moines-fastest-growing-city-midwest-census-says/99502922/ https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2017/03/23/des-...
- dragonwriter 9y agoA 600,000 metro area population is not a big metropolitan city.
- PhasmaFelis 9y agoYou're just nitpicking now.
- grahamburger 9y agoHere's the whole list: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings
- DoreenMichele 9y agoWA #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.
- tonydiv 9y ago1. Find clickbait article with title "<unpopulous midwest city> is the best state in the US" 2. Post on HN 3. Generate endless controversy as to whether SF, NYC, etc. are worth the cost of living
- StLCylone 9y agoIs this Heaven? No it's Iowa. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8-B5cyfK6A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8-B5cyfK6A
- IntronExon 9y ago“Why do all of these angels have ram’s horns?” -Dana Gould
- bb88 9y agoI 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/ http://population.us/ia/
- davidw 9y agoData 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 https://photos.app.goo.gl/8UVHrhwCHybhE2LU2 Not sure how much of that kind of thing you get in Iowa.
- danielecook 9y agoAs an aside - Iowa has an enormous annual bike ride called [Ragbrai](https://ragbrai.com https://ragbrai.com). I’ve wanted to go for years. Those that I know that have done it loved it.
- bb88 9y agoYes, 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.
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- vadimberman 9y agoI guess the statistics that would matter more to the HN readers are not there, so I'll ask: what about the tech opportunities specifically?
- folkhack 9y agoVery 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.
- djweis 9y agoTech unemployment is essentially negative in Iowa.
- midworst 9y agoDwolla Dwolla Dwolla. Involta. And i am guessing a bunch of agi-drone startups.
- bb88 9y agoMonsanto.
- joshmanders 9y agoLots of work at Deere. I work there, and just brought on 2 people, and have 4 more in the pipeline.
- tomwhipple 9y agoAnd being an actuary is the "best" job. But also mind-numbingly boring. Goes to show that choice of metrics matters.
- Kyragem 9y agoJust like the us news college rankings these rankings are entirely subjective.
- surf_n_terf 9y agoHmm, I wonder what the racial demographics of Iowa look like. Does anyone know? Seeing as diversity is our greatest strength, I'd assume it's one of -- if not THE -- most diverse state in the country.
- niftich 9y agoThis 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-between-rich-and-poor-by-us-state/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/227249/greatest-gap-betw...
- ourmandave 9y agoThe 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.
- RickJWag 9y agoI'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.
- poster123 9y agoIowa 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.
- hakayova 9y agoDepends 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.
- SixOhEight 9y agoI 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.