The 10 Cheapest Des Moines, IA Neighborhoods To Live In For 2022


We used science and data to determine which neighborhoods in Des Moines are the cheapest of the cheap.

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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.

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:

The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Des Moines For 2022

1. Chautauqua Park

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

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

2. Mckinley School

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

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

3. Oak Park

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

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

4. Somerset

Overall SnackAbility

4
/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

5. New Vision

Overall SnackAbility

3
/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

6. Indianola Hills

Overall SnackAbility

6
/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

7. Garton West

Overall SnackAbility

/10

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

8. Highland Park

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

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

9. Capitol Park

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

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. Douglas Acres

Overall SnackAbility

4
/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:

Detailed List Of The Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Des Moines For 2022

Rank Neighborhood Cost Of Living Index
1 Chautauqua Park 82
2 Mckinley School 82
3 Oak Park 83
4 Somerset 78
5 New Vision 78
6 Indianola Hills 83
7 Garton West 83
8 Highland Park 82
9 Capitol Park 83
10 Douglas Acres 84
11 Meredith 88
12 Capitol East 79
13 Martin Luther King Jr Park 82
14 Fairmont Park 83
15 Union Park 87
16 Fairground 83
17 Cheatom Park 84
18 Laurel Hill 87
19 Merle Hay 86
20 Beaverdale 91
21 Accent 87
22 Bloomfield-Allen 88
23 Southwestern Hills 89
24 Waveland Park 92
25 Valley High Manor 91
26 North Of Grand 86
27 Ingersoll Park 94
28 Waterbury 97
29 Greater South Side 87
30 Lower Beaver 91
31 Mondamin Presidentia 85
32 Waveland Woods 92
33 South Park 87
34 Capitol View South 82
35 Drake Park 81
36 Gray's Woods 86
37 Magnolia Park 86
38 Drake 87
39 River Bend 82
40 Kirkwood Glen 83
41 Salisbury Oaks 110
42 Westwood 107
43 Linden Heights 108
44 King-Irving Park 84
45 Greenwood 107
46 Woodland Heights 88
47 Sherman Hill 94
48 Jordan Park 87
49 Arbor Peaks 92
50 Carpenter 87
51 Downtown Des Moines 101

Editor's Note: We updated this article for 2022. This is our third time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Des Moines.

About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

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