Cedar Falls was ranked as one of the Top Ten "Most Livable (whatever the heck that really means) Bargain Markets". #4 Actually, along with Rochester, Pittsburgh, Lincoln, Ann Arbor and Fort Worth-Arlington. Here's
Waterloo, and smaller Cedar Falls along the Cedar River, recovered nicely after losing a significant part of the population during the agricultural recession of the 1980s.
John Deere is still the largest employer here, but the local economy has expanded to include more jobs in health care, other types of manufacturing and financial services. Unemployment is low, and the median home price was the lowest on our list at $114,700.
The adult population skews a little older, with many people past 65, but the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) in Cedar Falls adds a younger influence and a bit more cultural diversity and entertainment.
Cedar Falls and Waterloo both have an active visual-arts community. The Hearst Center for the Arts in Cedar Falls has two large galleries and classrooms, as well as a theater for films and studios for rent. UNI has its own exhibit space, and there's also the Waterloo Center for the Arts, a regional center for visual and performing arts that houses works by many artist,s including Iowa painter Grant Wood of "American Gothic" fame, as well as an interactive children's art museum. In summer there's the College Hill Arts Festival, where artists exhibit and sell their works in the parks of Cedar Falls.
"Cedar Falls has always had a reputation for its efforts, to maintain a high level quality of life for the citizens," says "Mr. Lucky," a former resident responding on a City-data.com forum. "Great schools, great parks and walking trails, the music festival every year, nice houses, the 'Parkade' (shopping area) downtown. What is there not to like?"
Locals don't have any professional sports teams to brag about, but many take in the UNI NCAA Division I Panthers.
Population: 163,486
Affordability index: 2.4
Unemployment: 6.35%
Job growth: 1.5%
Median home price: $114,700
Cost-of-living index: 82.7
Median household income: $47,100
Average commute time: 18 minutes
Commutes longer than an hour: 2.58%
Took out a lot of crap about Waterloo but...BOOM!
I have also seen Wichita and Des Moines listed pretty highly on "Top Cities to Raise a Family"; Des Moines usually in the top 10 and Wichita in the Top 25...however I believe thats mainly due to the suburbs of Des Moines (West Des Moines being the obvious #1
and then others like Altoona, Urbandale, Waukee, Ankeny and Johnston) as DM is pretty sketchy around the Drake area and East-side. All the good stuff is North and West of Drake
Can't speak for any other MVC schools really although my buddy who plays for SIU tells horror stories about living in Carbondale, and Normal seems okay but nothing special. Omaha is alright too but pretty scary at times
Posted: September 28th, 2011, 1:06 pm