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Everything else equal, I think we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.
I'd much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I'd rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.
And while every neighbhorhood in Des Moines might be more expensive than living in rural Iowa, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.
So what exactly are those Des Moines neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further -- you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?
Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and find out which neighborhoods in Des Moines are the cheapest.
The Cheapest Neighborhoods In Des Moines For 2022
What's the cheapest neighborhood to live in Des Moines for 2022? According to the most recent census data, Chautauqua Park looks to be the cheaptest Des Moines neighborhood to live in.
At this point we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for -- some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in Des Moines. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates in return for more space and cheaper groceries.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Des Moines that deserve a little bragging rights or maybe you're interested in the worst neighborhoods in Des Moines.
Once you're done, you can look at the bottom of the story for a complete chart of every neighborhood we looked at from cheapest to most expensive.
For more Iowa reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Iowa
- Cheapest Places To Live In Iowa
- Cheapest Cities To Live In America
- Cheapest States To Live In America
The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Des Moines For 2022
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Population: 441
Cost Of Living Index: 82 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.4 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.016 (23rd cheapest)
More on Chautauqua Park: Homes For Sale | Data
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Population: 1,750
Cost Of Living Index: 82 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.9 (6th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (2cheapest)
More on Mckinley School: Homes For Sale | Data
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Population: 4,090
Cost Of Living Index: 83 (14th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.8 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (18th cheapest)
More on Oak Park: Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 255
Cost Of Living Index: 78 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 0.7 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.019 (35th cheapest)
More on Somerset: Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 1,115
Cost Of Living Index: 78 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.5 (3cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.012 (11th cheapest)
More on New Vision: Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 6,003
Cost Of Living Index: 83 (14th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.2 (16th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.014 (16th cheapest)
More on Indianola Hills: Homes For Sale | Data
Population: 73
Cost Of Living Index: 83 (14th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.5 (32nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.0 (cheapest)
More on Garton West: Homes For Sale | Data
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Population: 9,601
Cost Of Living Index: 82 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.0 (8th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (33rd cheapest)
More on Highland Park: Homes For Sale | Data
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Population: 3,402
Cost Of Living Index: 83 (14th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.9 (7th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.017 (28th cheapest)
More on Capitol Park: Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 2,852
Cost Of Living Index: 84 (19th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.3 (22nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.01 (9th cheapest)
More on Douglas Acres: Homes For Sale | Data
Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Des Moines Hoods In 2022
In order to rank the cheapest places to live in Des Moines, we had to determine what criteria defines "cheap".
Using census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:
- Overall Cost Of Living
- Rent To Income Ratio
- Median Home Value To Income Ratio
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 51 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.
And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index the "Cheapest City Neighborhood In Des Moines." We're lookin' at you, Chautauqua Park.
Read on below to learn more about what it's like to live in the cheapest places Des Moines. Or skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city from cheapest to most expensive.
Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live In Des Moines
If you're measuring the neighborhoods in Des Moines where prices are low and it's cheap to live, this is an accurate list.
As we mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Des Moines aren't all cheap. Downtown Des Moines takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Des Moines.
We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.
For more Iowa reading, check out:
- Most Dangerous Cities In Iowa
- Richest Cities In Iowa
- Safest Places In Iowa
- Worst Places To Live In Iowa