IA metros
Cost of living across major IA metropolitan areas.
What living in IA costs
Across the 3 IA metros we track, the typical cost-of-living index is 90 against a national metro median of 95.7 — about 6% cheaper than the typical US metro. That ranks IA 6 of the 48 states we cover, counting from the cheapest.
The state is not uniform: Davenport, IA is the cheapest metro at 89.2, while Des Moines, IA runs 92.8 — a spread of 4% between them.
A typical IA home costs $244,344, or about 3.2× median household income, and typical rent is $1,234/mo.
Taxes in IA
IA levies a state income tax on top of the federal one. Effective property tax runs about 1.7% of home value in a typical IA metro, and combined state and local sales tax is around 6.9%.
Property tax is the one that scales with housing, so it bites hardest in the pricier metros above. Per-metro figures are on each metro page.
| Metro | COL index | Median home | Median rent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Des Moines, IA | 92.8 | $296,070 | $1,293 |
| Davenport, IA | 89.2 | $195,380 | $1,021 |
| Cedar Rapids, IA | 90.0 | $244,344 | $1,234 |
Cities & towns in IA (18)
Local property tax, home values and school scores for each place.