Worst Places to Live In Iowa (article)

[mramseyISU]

Probably 2 years. Last time I was in downtown, I was on bikes and had rode down from Cedar Falls. I've been in the neighborhood SE of East High (between MLK and Franklin) in the past 5 years or so, and that was pretty bad.

They started that clean-up work last summer, a lot of those buildings you saw going that way are gone now and there are a lot of new stores going in now. It's not a terrible area anymore.

 

[VeloClone]

Relieved to see that someone mentioned the town where I graduated high school. Definitely deserves the list despite not making it.

#methcapital

 

[cloneswereall]

If by "go out of your way" you mean "drive north out of town on Highway 63" then I agree.

The absolute worst of the worst is a pretty isolated neighborhood, but pretty much everything north of downtown along 63 looks like Detroit.

The SW part of Waterloo and downtown are pretty nice. Cedar Falls is very nice.

Eh. Most of 63 north of downtown has been redone the past couple years, so it doesn't look that bad driving on it anymore.

I also never understood how 8 miles creates this idea in peoples' heads that one town is ****** while the other is great. Marion/CR, Waterloo/CF, Udale, Johnston, Ankeny, Clive / DSM, Council Bluffs/Omaha all have it. There isn't some kind of magic barrier between abutting towns that makes one better than the other. For ******'s sake, in at least one of these conflicting ideas, the town deemed to be "better" has worse road maintenance, can't support it's own emergency personnel system (and relies on the other town to support it), and has more in-fighting than a trailer park family.

 

[roundball]

It's hard to disagree since those towns are certainly not places that I would want to live, but that doesn't mean they don't offer something for someone. If you're someone who wants to live extremely cheaply and doesn't care about having a lot of community amenities (and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that), Iowa's a great place to be.

 

[Gunnerclone]

I was listening to CR radio on the way home from Ragbrai and I heard this promo from the station:

The City of 5 Seasons?
The City of 5 Smells?
We just call it home.

 

[DeereClone]

Eh. Most of 63 north of downtown has been redone the past couple years, so it doesn't look that bad driving on it anymore.

I also never understood how 8 miles creates this idea in peoples' heads that one town is ****** while the other is great. Marion/CR, Waterloo/CF, Udale, Johnston, Ankeny, Clive / DSM, Council Bluffs/Omaha all have it. There isn't some kind of magic barrier between abutting towns that makes one better than the other. For ******'s sake, in at least one of these conflicting ideas, the town deemed to be "better" has worse road maintenance, can't support it's own emergency personnel system (and relies on the other town to support it), and has more in-fighting than a trailer park family.

But the crime numbers don't lie. When I am watching the evening news and they come in with "breaking news" 9 times out of 10 it is a shooting in Waterloo. No, there isn't a magic barrier, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out where the safe neighborhoods are and where the crimes are.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Shouldn't MP and Burlington be swapped out. The Ol' Dirty B has had a rash of murder, theft, breakins and mayhem recently. That town has always been gritty, but for its population it seems like a fairly dangerous place

I'd agree with your perception. Though like any "bigger" town, I'm sure B-Town has its good and bad areas.

 

[cloneswereall]

But the crime numbers don't lie. When I am watching the evening news and they come in with "breaking news" 9 times out of 10 it is a shooting in Waterloo. No, there isn't a magic barrier, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out where the safe neighborhoods are and where the crimes are.

All I'm saying is that the so called "better" towns may have less crime, but they also have their share of terrible things that are way more likely to affect a lot more people.

I mean, yea, Marion has less crime than CR (it's a fraction of the size). There's still nothing worthwhile about living there. The roads in the town proper are terrible, the speed limit of downtown is obnoxious (seriously, it's 15), there is literally nothing of entertainment value in town, and a lady was murdered inside a grocery store in April/May.

 

[Incyte]

And now you have me hungry for burgers.

I don't know if Wadena is any more of a dump than any small town. I've been through much worse in the southern couple tiers of counties. I can't think of many "on the map" towns in northern Iowa that are on par with southern Iowa/northern Missouri in terms of dilapidation.

Algona, Fort Dodge, Postville. Never been to Charles City but I was told it's rough.

 

[roundball]

All I'm saying is that the so called "better" towns may have less crime, but they also have their share of terrible things that are way more likely to affect a lot more people.

I mean, yea, Marion has less crime than CR (it's a fraction of the size). There's still nothing worthwhile about living there. The roads in the town proper are terrible, the speed limit of downtown is obnoxious (seriously, it's 15), there is literally nothing of entertainment value in town, and a lady was murdered inside a grocery store in April/May.

Another funny thing is that people look at the wrong crimes when determining if a neighborhood is "safe" or not. Heinous crimes like homicide, rape, assault, etc. are A) extremely rare almost everywhere, and B) not likely to happen to the overwhelming majority of people, and C) can happen anywhere, but people hear about a shooting at 15th and Roberts and suddenly it's a "bad" area.

I'm far more concerned with things like property crime, nuisance complaints, theft, etc. that have a much bigger impact on my quality of life.

 

[laminak]

All I'm saying is that the so called "better" towns may have less crime, but they also have their share of terrible things that are way more likely to affect a lot more people.

I mean, yea, Marion has less crime than CR (it's a fraction of the size). There's still nothing worthwhile about living there. The roads in the town proper are terrible, the speed limit of downtown is obnoxious (seriously, it's 15), there is literally nothing of entertainment value in town, and a lady was murdered inside a grocery store in April/May.

You're going to fault a whole community for one murder (outside the store, by the way) by a jealous ex when the overall crime rate is very good? Wow.

 

[2forISU]

Here is some more to add to this list: Clinton, Muscatine, Burlington, Centerville, Keokuk, Ft. Dodge, M-town and Tama/Toldeo

CR is another one that is close on this list.

 

[clone136]

I hates these list can essentially be broken as this: bad towns are essentially blue collar towns and great towns are white collar

 

[roundball]

Here is some more to add to this list: Clinton, Muscatine, Burlington, Centerville, Keokuk, Ft. Dodge, M-town and Tama/Toldeo

CR is another one that is close on this list.

Um, those are on the list.

 

[cyclone87]

Another funny thing is that people look at the wrong crimes when determining if a neighborhood is "safe" or not. Heinous crimes like homicide, rape, assault, etc. are A) extremely rare almost everywhere, and B) not likely to happen to the overwhelming majority of people, and C) can happen anywhere, but people hear about a shooting at 15th and Roberts and suddenly it's a "bad" area.

I'm far more concerned with things like property crime, nuisance complaints, theft, etc. that have a much bigger impact on my quality of life.

Still, there is no denying that certain areas like some areas of east Waterloo have a much higher rate of these crimes per capita than other areas (along with the less serious crimes you mention later). So I don't think they are totally irrelevant.

 

[cyclone87]

Also the less serious crimes you mention can happen "anywhere" too, they just happen in higher concentration in some areas.

 

[roundball]

Still, there is no denying that certain areas like some areas of east Waterloo have a much higher rate of these crimes per capita than other areas (along with the less serious crimes you mention later). So I don't think they are totally irrelevant.

Also the less serious crimes you mention can happen "anywhere" too, they just happen in higher concentration in some areas.

I'm not denying that they happen more frequently or commonly in certain areas, but almost everywhere (especially in Iowa) they're extremely rare and unlikely to affect any given person, especially when compared to things like auto theft, burglary, etc.

 

[Cyclonetrombone]

Before moving to Waterloo I asked my family members who live there where I should be looking for houses. My aunt took a phone book, drew a line line going west on Williston North on Fletcher and the North on Ansborough, drive an arrow pointing north and simply said "Don't" that was the end of the conversation.

I didn't ask any questions.

Result: Didn't buy a house in that area, and I also didn't get robbed/murdered/threatened/or woken up at night.

Note: I didn't even bother with the other side of the river since I needed to be on the south side of the river to make winter driving not a complete pain. That said, a majority of the north side of the Cedar is trash/sketch as well.

 

[2020cy]

No mention of Counciltucky yet? I'm shocked.

 

[Cyclonetrombone]

If noone has been to Neighborhoodscout.com, it is a fun time.

I move every 2 years due to my job so I use this habitually, there are better sites out there but so far this has been very helpful for me and my wife.

http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ia/waterloo/