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

desmoinesregister.com

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

#51

Post by PopePompous »

danielecook wrote: post #16
danso wrote: post #2

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…

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.

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.

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

#52

Post by ourmandave »

bb88 wrote: post #18

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, a…

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.

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

#53

Post by arreyder »

jonknee wrote: post #38
PhasmaFelis wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It'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.

Iowa has no big metropolitan cities. The largest is Des Moines and it's only a little larger than 200,000 people.

Not 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-...

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

#54

Post by nine_k »

danielecook wrote: post #16
danso wrote: post #2

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…

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.

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

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

#56

Post by dsfyu404ed »

EpicEng wrote: post #37
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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

#57

Post by djweis »

peterangular wrote: post #39
vadimberman wrote: post #21

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.

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

#58

Post by mercutio2 »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #14
_RPM wrote: post #9

Who wouldn’t want to live in the middle of a bunch of corn fields?

It'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.

Since this article is about Iowa, you must be talking abou Des Moines, which is very nice, but calling it a big metropolitan city would be a pretty big stretch.

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

#59

Post by bb88 »

hermitdev wrote: post #41
sincerely wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ab…

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.

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

#60

Post by bb88 »

midworst wrote: post #46
vadimberman wrote: post #21

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?

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

Monsanto.
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