Thinking about moving out of Iowa

[BCClone]

So what is the deal with NM? Why does it suck so much? I've always had that state in mind if we ever want to move to the SW.

One thing that worries me about moving out of Iowa is cost of living. Recently we were back to my wife's hometown, to which I would move tomorrow, but housing costs are outrageous. Our 1800 sq ft early 2000s build house in Ankeny would be well over $1million there . How could I possible afford that? Even the little 1000 sq ft ranch post WWII homes in that town are running $600-$700 thousand. Insane. One long time Des Moines resident once said to me, "Des Moines is a great place to live but you sure don't want to visit." I am thinking that is pretty true.

Moving out of Iowa the housing part would probably be the toughest. We are in a small town and our house would sell for about 350k area I’d guess. We were in NOLA for the 4th and the kids were interested in what houses cost when they saw a for sale sign. Something half our size was running at a million.

While you may make 1/2 to 2/3 in Iowa, housing is 1/4 or so the cost in the smaller towns. So it’s probably cheap to move back but expensive to leave.

 

[AuH2O]

So what is the deal with NM? Why does it suck so much? I've always had that state in mind if we ever want to move to the SW.

One thing that worries me about moving out of Iowa is cost of living. Recently we were back to my wife's hometown, to which I would move tomorrow, but housing costs are outrageous. Our 1800 sq ft early 2000s build house in Ankeny would be well over $1million there . How could I possible afford that? Even the little 1000 sq ft ranch post WWII homes in that town are running $600-$700 thousand. Insane. One long time Des Moines resident once said to me, "Des Moines is a great place to live but you sure don't want to visit." I am thinking that is pretty true.

Just curious what the other region you were considering that your wife is from?

Iowa is probably 70% of the national average, with small towns and rural Iowa being well below, and the Des Moines burbs being above that. So, yes, you are definitely going to spend more most other places.

One thing to consider is if you are going to go move someplace more expensive for 10 years or so then retire back in Iowa or a cheaper place, that can be a nice arbitrage move. Spending years in a higher paying area in an expensive house and building that equity, then ultimately moving to a cheaper place can pay off financially. Keep in mind, that mostly only works if that high cost of living comes with higher pay.

 

[Derek Duke]

Just curious what the other region you were considering that your wife is from?

Iowa is probably 70% of the national average, with small towns and rural Iowa being well below, and the Des Moines burbs being above that. So, yes, you are definitely going to spend more most other places.

One thing to consider is if you are going to go move someplace more expensive for 10 years or so then retire back in Iowa or a cheaper place, that can be a nice arbitrage move. Spending years in a higher paying area in an expensive house and building that equity, then ultimately moving to a cheaper place can pay off financially. Keep in mind, that mostly only works if that high cost of living comes with higher pay.

agree with this 100%. When I sell, I am going out of state to retire in a cheaper state where my dollar stretches further.

 

[simply1]

So what is the deal with NM? Why does it suck so much? I've always had that state in mind if we ever want to move to the SW.

One thing that worries me about moving out of Iowa is cost of living. Recently we were back to my wife's hometown, to which I would move tomorrow, but housing costs are outrageous. Our 1800 sq ft early 2000s build house in Ankeny would be well over $1million there . How could I possible afford that? Even the little 1000 sq ft ranch post WWII homes in that town are running $600-$700 thousand. Insane. One long time Des Moines resident once said to me, "Des Moines is a great place to live but you sure don't want to visit." I am thinking that is pretty true.

I moved for a different job and compensation went up accordingly for the COL.

 

[BACyclone]

agree with this 100%. When I sell, I am going out of state to retire in a cheaper state where my dollar stretches further.

If your goal is literally to get cheaper than Iowa, it will be a very short list of options, and not really much room to go lower. Iowa is among the most affordable COL in the nation.



For reference, Texas is just off the screen below this -- Texas (as a whole) is relatively cheap overall.

 

[Derek Duke]

If your goal is literally to get cheaper than Iowa, it will be a very short list of options, and not really much room to go lower. Iowa is among the most affordable COL in the nation.

View attachment 172097

For reference, Texas is just off the screen below this -- Texas (as a whole) is relatively cheap overall.

View attachment 172098

I live in Texas now. Good news is if you don't like one area, plenty more areas to find with reasonable prices if you are willing to live out in the middle of nowhere. But it also depends on where you live in these states too when it comes to pricing.

 

[AuH2O]

If your goal is literally to get cheaper than Iowa, it will be a very short list of options, and not really much room to go lower. Iowa is among the most affordable COL in the nation.

View attachment 172097

For reference, Texas is just off the screen below this -- Texas (as a whole) is relatively cheap overall.

View attachment 172098

Yeah, I was thinking the person I was responding to might consider moving out of Iowa to a higher cost of living state, assuming higher pay, for 10 or more years. Then move back to a cheap state to stretch their dollar. Iowa is pretty cheap as a whole. There are always cheaper places within or outside of Iowa. They tend to be cheap for a reason.

And looking at it from a statewide perspective gets a little more complicated. States with more rural area are going to be cheaper as a whole, but the urban places in those states are not nearly as cheap. For example, while Iowa is well below the national average, Ankeny is plus or minus a few percent of the national average according to various sources. Same goes for Tennessee/Nashville, for example.

 

[DesertClone1]

I live in Texas now. Good news is if you don't like one area, plenty more areas to find with reasonable prices if you are willing to live out in the middle of nowhere. But it also depends on where you live in these states too when it comes to pricing.

Im curious, Duke... how bad are your property taxes? Sure no state income tax, but they make it up somehow... and it's Property Taxes.

My taxes in Arizona for a 4 BR 2.5 B was like 1300... for the year.

Always welcome to come out to AZ! we need more Cyclone fans out here now that you're converted.

 

[BACyclone]

I live in Texas now. Good news is if you don't like one area, plenty more areas to find with reasonable prices if you are willing to live out in the middle of nowhere. But it also depends on where you live in these states too when it comes to pricing.

I realized I was responding to you halfway through my post. I think your analogy holds true about anywhere, including Texas. I've driven around Texas a few times, and there are tons of rural-ish towns that could be nice to live in that are also cheap to live, and not too far to drive to get to a major airport or other services.

 

[J4ISU22]

Im curious, Duke... how bad are your property taxes? Sure no state income tax, but they make it up somehow... and it's Property Taxes.

My taxes in Arizona for a 4 BR 2.5 B was like 1300... for the year.

Always welcome to come out to AZ! we need more Cyclone fans out here now that you're converted.

I'm hoping to make the move down at some point. Born, raised, and now back in Des Moines for about 5 years post grad. Probably still a couple years from making the move, but I love the Phoenix area.

 

[DesertClone1]

I'm hoping to make the move down at some point. Born, raised, and now back in Des Moines for about 5 years post grad. Probably still a couple years from making the move, but I love the Phoenix area.

My wife and I moved out 10 years ago, and have been in the East Valley, i love it. Don't plan on moving back. Maybe we'll get a cabin in Minnesota or something down the road, the summers can get a little... warm.

 

[Derek Duke]

Im curious, Duke... how bad are your property taxes? Sure no state income tax, but they make it up somehow... and it's Property Taxes.

My taxes in Arizona for a 4 BR 2.5 B was like 1300... for the year.

Always welcome to come out to AZ! we need more Cyclone fans out here now that you're converted.

So at my current home nothing crazy because we have a modular home on about on acre. So it's not much. because it's not worth much outside of the land.

But I do have 6 acres of property in the county next to us (which we are in the process of building now) and it's just land/electric/well and that's been anywhere between $2,800 to $2,300 for the last four years. That's without any structure on it. But it has gone down a little each year.

Also looking over, I want to say that school taxes are about 55 to 60% of your taxes for property total. Now you can get AG exemptions if you have 10 acres or more. But with 6, I could do bees for an exemptions which I am looking into.

 

[Cyched]

I was told the same, but back then I really loved it here. Eventually that changed and now I hate living here. I tried talking my boss into letting me move to Iowa and work from home but no dice. Maybe he will change his mind one day.

Red or green?

 

[BigTurk]

Just curious what the other region you were considering that your wife is from?

Iowa is probably 70% of the national average, with small towns and rural Iowa being well below, and the Des Moines burbs being above that. So, yes, you are definitely going to spend more most other places.

One thing to consider is if you are going to go move someplace more expensive for 10 years or so then retire back in Iowa or a cheaper place, that can be a nice arbitrage move. Spending years in a higher paying area in an expensive house and building that equity, then ultimately moving to a cheaper place can pay off financially. Keep in mind, that mostly only works if that high cost of living comes with higher pay.

Libertyville, IL. One thing we have going against us is our jobs. My wife would have a very hard time finding a position like the one she has making what she does. I could probably get close.

 

[crs8975]

After Iowa State I lived in Southern CA for a few years before spending time in upstate NY, Georgia, and now CO for 12 years. I much prefer CO to any of the other places I've lived. It has its faults like most places, and the population growth has kind of sucked to deal with... but we still enjoy what it has to offer the most.

 

[crs8975]

Scotland
Bergen
Cinque Terre

I love Scotland. Though I'm sure if I was there during extended periods of crap weather I might find it less appealing. I also haven't been there in the dead of summer when the midgies come around. But all the people we've met, history, food, etc etc... I'd be lying if I said I hadn't researched potential jobs!

 

[jbclone10]

For those of you that have moved, did you know anyone else living there? Kind of debating between trying to go somewhere that I already have some connection or not. I have some friends around Minneapolis that really want me to move there and even though their winters are worse, it has more to offer than Iowa and is drivable to Ames/DSM/Waterloo (parents).
But also my cousin lives in Colorado Springs and I'm heavily considering that, just would have fewer connections from the start.

I didn't have any connections other then knowing I wanted out of IA. My wife's family lives/lived around the Denver suburbs. We talked about moving out after college and luckily our careers allowed that to happen (somewhat easily). My parents visit quite frequently so I don't go back to IA much. I think my last trip was in 2025, and the next planned one is in May of 2027 for my bother's graduation. I miss the closeness to family and my friends back home, but that is it.

 

[demoncore1031]

So what is the deal with NM? Why does it suck so much? I've always had that state in mind if we ever want to move to the SW.

One thing that worries me about moving out of Iowa is cost of living. Recently we were back to my wife's hometown, to which I would move tomorrow, but housing costs are outrageous. Our 1800 sq ft early 2000s build house in Ankeny would be well over $1million there . How could I possible afford that? Even the little 1000 sq ft ranch post WWII homes in that town are running $600-$700 thousand. Insane. One long time Des Moines resident once said to me, "Des Moines is a great place to live but you sure don't want to visit." I am thinking that is pretty true.

Crime is insane in Albuquerque. The cost of living has gone way up. I'm barely getting by. Santa Fe and Taos are really nice if you can afford it. Honestly I'm getting a bit tired of the scenery here. The mountains are beautiful but ever since I went back to Iowa last year it has me missing grass and cornfields and friendly people.

 

[demoncore1031]

Red or green?

Yuck. Neither.

 

[besserheimerphat]

So what is the deal with NM? Why does it suck so much? I've always had that state in mind if we ever want to move to the SW.

One thing that worries me about moving out of Iowa is cost of living. Recently we were back to my wife's hometown, to which I would move tomorrow, but housing costs are outrageous. Our 1800 sq ft early 2000s build house in Ankeny would be well over $1million there . How could I possible afford that? Even the little 1000 sq ft ranch post WWII homes in that town are running $600-$700 thousand. Insane. One long time Des Moines resident once said to me, "Des Moines is a great place to live but you sure don't want to visit." I am thinking that is pretty true.

I have cousins who grew up in Albuquerque and are now in Tulsa. One of them really loved and misses Albuquerque, not sure about the other.