Iowa cost of living
Prices in Iowa run at 87.8 against a national average of 100, which makes it the 48th most expensive of the 51 jurisdictions. Housing is the part that separates states: rents there sit at 65.3.
Where the difference actually is
Iowa is one of the least expensive places measured, at 87.8 against a national 100, ranking #48 of 51 states. That is 12.2 per cent below national. Whether it is affordable depends entirely on what is earned here, which the wage pages cover.
Housing is unusually cheap relative to everything else here. Rents sit at 65.3 against goods at 93.7 and other services at 83.3, so the overall figure of 87.8 understates how affordable the housing itself is. That combination, ordinary prices with cheap rent, is what people are usually looking for and rarely find. Goods at 93.7 are themselves 6.3 points off national, which is a wide gap for a category that is mostly shipped in.
A salary here goes further than the same salary somewhere at 100. Divide by 87.8 and multiply by 100 to get the nationally comparable figure, and it will come out higher than the headline.
The vertical line is the national average of 100. Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, SARPP, 2024.
What it costs, in actual money
Parities are ratios. These are the figures behind them for Iowa, drawn from the other datasets on this site.
| Iowa | |
|---|---|
| Median home value | $195,900 |
| Median gross rent | $949 a month |
| Median household income | $73,147 |
| Average electricity bill | $119 a month |
| Effective property tax | 1.43% |
Metro areas in Iowa
Within a state, cities and rural areas diverge sharply. A statewide parity averages over that.
| Metro area | All items | Goods | Rents | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Omaha | 91.9 | 94.1 | 86.4 | #247 |
| Des Moines-West Des Moines | 91.7 | 93.7 | 84.7 | #252 |
| Iowa City | 91.5 | 93.7 | 84.0 | #259 |
| Davenport-Moline-Rock Island | 89.1 | 94.2 | 68.3 | #309 |
| Cedar Rapids | 89.0 | 93.7 | 71.4 | #310 |
| Ames | 88.8 | 93.7 | 69.2 | #316 |
| Dubuque | 87.3 | 93.7 | 64.0 | #349 |
| Waterloo-Cedar Falls | 87.1 | 93.7 | 63.1 | #353 |
| Sioux City | 86.5 | 94.0 | 57.8 | #359 |
Iowa cost of living: common questions
Is Iowa expensive to live in?
Prices overall are 12.2% below the national average, at a parity of 87.8 where 100 is the country as a whole. It ranks #48 of 51. Goods run at 93.7, rents at 65.3 and other services at 83.3.
What is a salary in Iowa really worth?
The median wage there is $47,670. Adjusted for local prices that buys what $54,294 buys nationally. A state that pays well and costs more can leave a household no better off, and this is the arithmetic that shows it.
What is a regional price parity?
An official measure from the Bureau of Economic Analysis of what a dollar buys in one place against the national average, set at 100. It is built from the same price collection that underlies the consumer price index, extended to compare places rather than time periods. It is the only government measure of cost of living differences between states.
Why is housing treated separately?
Because it carries most of the difference. In Iowa rents sit 22.5 points below the state's overall parity. Goods barely vary between states, since most of them are shipped nationally; services vary more; housing varies enormously. Any cost of living comparison that does not separate housing is mostly measuring housing anyway.