We bet you’re smart.
Why else would you be looking for the cheapest places to live in Iowa?
Well, we think you’re smart. And to help you out, we used Saturday Night Science to pinpoint the exact locations of the most affordable places to live in Iowa. We looked through the Census data for housing costs and the cost of living for every place in the state.
More affordable places include suburbs of bigger cities like Des Moines. That said, you’ll probably have a cornfield in your backyard in most of these places. But at least Ledges State Park is just a short drive away.
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Table | FAQs | Summary
The 10 most affordable places to live in Iowa
Ask any Iowan, and they will say, hands down, that their corner of the world is the best. Heck, there’s a reason The Hawkeye State is the 30th most populous in the country.
What’s the most affordable place to live in Iowa? The most affordable place to live in Iowa is Oelwein according to the most recent Census data on incomes, rent, and home prices.
Check out some more reading about Iowa and the cheapest places in the country:
The 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Iowa For 2025
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Population: 5,878
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 75
Median Income: $49,821
Median Home Price: $96,800
Median Rent: $762
Ranked as the most affordable city in Iowa, Oelwein sits at the intersection of State Highways 3 and 150 within central Fayette County.
The city’s overall cost of living index of 75 is notably lower than the state and national average. Its $96,800 average home price, which is the sixth lowest in Iowa, drives the low cost of living. Home prices typically account for the biggest discrepancy in living costs between cities in the same state.
More on Oelwein: Data
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Population: 5,377
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 78
Median Income: $41,472
Median Home Price: $99,000
Median Rent: $758
Centerville, centered in the center of Appanoose County, certainly excels as a cheap city in Iowa.
Phew.
It has an overall cost of living that is 10.3% lower than the state average. That saves more money for fun things to do like a weekend trip to Boise or camping at the Swinging Bridge Campground.
More on Centerville: Data
/10
Population: 11,492
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 79
Median Income: $62,172
Median Home Price: $128,900
Median Rent: $880
Oskaloosa offers one of the most affordable lifestyles in Iowa. With a median home value of $128,900 and median rent of $880, the cost of living in Oskaloosa is well below the national average.
Oskaloosa’s low unemployment rate of just 4.15% and median income of $62,172 make it a stable and secure place to live.
More on Oskaloosa: Data
4. Osceola
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Population: 5,495
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 79
Median Income: $62,363
Median Home Price: $145,300
Median Rent: $832
If you’re looking for a place where you don’t have to hand over whole paycheck just to get the mortgage paid, Osceola is the place for you. With a median home price of $145,300 and a median income of $62,363, Osceola has the 26th best home price to income ratio in Iowa. Only a slightly less favorable market for renters keeps Osceola from a higher spot on this list. But hey, if you’re feeling lucky about living in the fourth cheapest place in Iowa, head to the local Lakeside Casino and your luck might just continue.
Osceola is about 45 minutes south of Des Moines.
More on Osceola:
/10
Population: 6,149
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 80
Median Income: $72,250
Median Home Price: $156,900
Median Rent: $769
You’ll find financial independence in Independence, the fifth cheapest place to live in Iowa for 2025.
Located in Buchanan County, Independence is a small town with inexpensive attractions such as Wapsipinicon River nearby. That allows residents to save more of their $72,250 median income for sweet corn and loose meat sandwiches.
More on Independence: Data
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Population: 5,542
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 80
Median Income: $52,996
Median Home Price: $91,600
Median Rent: $768
It probably doesn’t mean much these days to be the hometown of Johnny Carson. But from the 1960s to the 1990s, the host of the Tonight Show was one of the most recognizable people in America. That’s a pretty big claim to fame for Red Oak, Iowa, a town of just 5,542 residents.
These days, Red Oak has other things going for it besides a famous native son. It ranks as the number 6 most affordable spot in Iowa.
Thanks in large part to cheap housing, the cost of living in Red Oak comes in at about 80% the norm for the U.S. The median home value in town is the most affordable in the state, with a figure of $91,600. Rent costs are similarly under control, with a median value of $768 per month.
In terms of other economic indicators, the median income in town sits at $52,996, while the unemployment rate runs a at a level of 3.86%.
Located in an agricultural region, Red Oak offers a rural lifestyle. For big city excitement, your best bet would be Omaha, Nebraska, located about an hour to the northwest.
More on Red Oak: Data
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Population: 66,947
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 81
Median Income: $56,344
Median Home Price: $150,200
Median Rent: $896
In Waterloo, finding a good deal on a place to live is not a battle. The town ranks as the seventh most affordable in Iowa. With median home values at $150,200 and a median income of $56,344, Waterloo presents an enviable home price-to-income ratio of 2.67.
With that extra income, you can travel to the Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival or the Quad City Balloon Festival.
More on Waterloo: Data
Commenting on the review left by the Cedar Falls person. Your people- “Your” people must be into drugs,too, or my people wouldn’t be bothering yours. My family lives in both communities and we have never been shot at or anything like that.
My favorite place is home.
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Population: 9,748
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 81
Median Income: $49,340
Median Home Price: $93,700
Median Rent: $810
Keokuk, perched on Iowa’s extreme southeast tip, has a cheap real estate market featuring a $93,700 median income. It ranks as the eighth most inexpensive in Iowa.
The city’s position at the Des Moines River and the Mississippi River intersection offers plenty of free or low-cost things, like fishing, hiking, or swimming. Its overall cost of living index of 81 is 6 points better than the state average.
More on Keokuk: Data
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Population: 8,247
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 81
Median Income: $63,850
Median Home Price: $137,600
Median Rent: $770
Coming in as the absolute cheapest place to live in Iowa for 2025 is Denison. Denison might not have the cheapest homes on the market or lowest rent in the state, a combination of factors work together to make it the least expensive place in Iowa overall. Denison has the best-paid populace on this list, with a median income of $63,850, which, taken with Denison’s median home price of $137,600, means that the city’s residents pay the 18th least proportion of their income on homes in Iowa. And don’t worry that cheap = boring; Denison has plenty going on to keep you occupied on a budget.
Denison is located in West Central Iowa.
More on Denison: Data
Being a graduate from Denison Iowa #3 which said the Graduation Rate was 62% but your information is false.
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Population: 7,466
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 81
Median Income: $50,752
Median Home Price: $112,600
Median Rent: $672
Creston started life as a railroad junction. Even today, Amtrak’s California Zephyr passes through town as part of its regular service between Chicago and San Francisco. That means most people experience the town as a passing blur from a train window. But they are missing out. After all, Creston stands as one of the cheapest places to live in all of Iowa.
Rents in Creston are among the cheapest in the state, coming in at a median level of $672 per month. Buying a house is a good value as well. The median home value in the area stands at $112,600, the tenth most affordable figure in the state.
Generally speaking, the cost of living for the area sits at about 80% the national average. Most of that value comes from the cheap housing available. Turning to other stats, the median income is $50,752 and the unemployment rate is 3.98%.
Creston sits in a rural region. However, it’s not your stereotypical horizon of unbroken cornfields. There are a few sizable lakes nearby, offering the town’s 7,466 residents access to lots of outdoor activities. For instance, they an visit the nearby Green Valley State Park.
More on Creston: Data
Cheapest places to live in Iowa FAQs
The county in Iowa with the lowest cost of living is Decatur County. The average living wage in Decatur County is $84,148 according to MIT data. Decatur County has the lowest cost of living because it has relatively less expensive childcare and housing costs compared to Iowa as a whole. Childcare costs $11,870 a year in Decatur County for two children compared to the Iowa average of $15,077. Housing costs, defined as a blend of the average rent and average mortgage payment, are $8,580 per year in Decatur County compared to $9,843 on average in Iowa.
The cost of living in Iowa is 0.6% lower than the US average. According to MIT, the required living wage for a family of four with two working parents in Iowa is $89,241 vs the national average for a family of four with two working parents of $89,744. The median income of a Iowa household is $61,836.
The cheapest housing market in Iowa is Centerville. The average home value in Centerville is $73,000, the lowest in the state. The average home value in Iowa is $153,900, almost 2.1 times higher than Centerville.
Methodology: How we determined the most affordable places to live in the Hawkeye State for 2025
Determining affordability for places in Iowa boils down to how much it costs to live here.
You need to understand your costs relative to what people in the rest of the state are paying.
With that logic in mind, we derived several cost of living statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 for Iowa using Saturday Night Science. We indexed the cost of living statistics across the following categories:
- Housing
- Transportation
- Services
- Groceries
- Healthcare
- Utilities
These are then weighted together to produce an overall cost of living index where 100 is the United States average. Anything below 100 is relatively affordable. Anything over 100 is relatively expensive.
We applied the biggest weight to housing as it typically accounts for 25% or more of your budget. Additionally, housing costs are the highest variant cost across a state. We then compare these cost of living metrics for each place in Iowa to figure out which is the least expensive.
The “Cost of Living Index” allows you to rank all of the 83 places in Iowa that have more than 5,000 people from least expensive to most expensive. Any ties went to the larger city.
The place in Iowa with the lowest cost of living according to the data is Oelwein.
We updated this article for 2025. This report reflects our tenth time ranking the cheapest places to live in Iowa.
Iowa Affordabilility Summary
This is an accurate list of the most affordable places to live in Iowa for 2025, if you’re looking at the cost of living numbers in Iowa.
The cheapest cities in Iowa are Oelwein, Centerville, Oskaloosa, Osceola, Independence, Red Oak, Waterloo, Keokuk, Denison, and Creston.
Here’s a look at the most expensive cities in Iowa according to the data:
- Clive
- North Liberty
- Asbury
For more Iowa reading, check out:
Cheapest Places To Live In Iowa
| Rank | City | Population | Cost Of Living Index | Median Income | Home Prices | Rent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oelwein | 5,878 | 75 | $49,821 | $96,800 | $762 |
| 2 | Centerville | 5,377 | 78 | $41,472 | $99,000 | $758 |
| 3 | Oskaloosa | 11,492 | 79 | $62,172 | $128,900 | $880 |
| 4 | Osceola | 5,495 | 79 | $62,363 | $145,300 | $832 |
| 5 | Independence | 6,149 | 80 | $72,250 | $156,900 | $769 |
| 6 | Red Oak | 5,542 | 80 | $52,996 | $91,600 | $768 |
| 7 | Waterloo | 66,947 | 81 | $56,344 | $150,200 | $896 |
| 8 | Keokuk | 9,748 | 81 | $49,340 | $93,700 | $810 |
| 9 | Denison | 8,247 | 81 | $63,850 | $137,600 | $770 |
| 10 | Creston | 7,466 | 81 | $50,752 | $112,600 | $672 |
| 11 | Cherokee | 5,157 | 81 | $48,693 | $119,400 | $707 |
| 12 | Knoxville | 7,493 | 82 | $70,136 | $147,600 | $810 |
| 13 | Clarinda | 5,366 | 82 | $50,644 | $112,200 | $653 |
| 14 | Fort Dodge | 24,788 | 83 | $61,769 | $128,900 | $764 |
| 15 | Clinton | 24,425 | 84 | $57,493 | $115,400 | $751 |
| 16 | Burlington | 23,800 | 84 | $55,274 | $115,800 | $931 |
| 17 | Newton | 15,696 | 84 | $56,321 | $151,600 | $828 |
| 18 | Storm Lake | 11,275 | 84 | $58,341 | $163,600 | $830 |
| 19 | Charles City | 7,321 | 84 | $56,734 | $118,900 | $628 |
| 20 | Atlantic | 6,773 | 84 | $57,486 | $134,900 | $750 |
| 21 | Sioux City | 85,651 | 85 | $65,473 | $162,600 | $936 |
| 22 | Grinnell | 9,527 | 85 | $64,426 | $191,700 | $876 |
| 23 | Marshalltown | 27,491 | 86 | $68,854 | $117,100 | $864 |
| 24 | Mason City | 27,135 | 86 | $62,369 | $130,000 | $874 |
| 25 | Ottumwa | 25,352 | 86 | $56,994 | $92,400 | $956 |
| 26 | Le Mars | 10,597 | 86 | $72,381 | $202,200 | $908 |
| 27 | Waverly | 10,446 | 86 | $78,429 | $215,200 | $909 |
| 28 | Fort Madison | 10,221 | 86 | $49,359 | $95,900 | $824 |
| 29 | Fairfield | 9,438 | 86 | $48,302 | $152,900 | $864 |
| 30 | Decorah | 7,597 | 86 | $62,177 | $234,600 | $788 |
| 31 | Estherville | 5,865 | 86 | $54,624 | $96,300 | $739 |
| 32 | Anamosa | 5,553 | 86 | $56,167 | $164,900 | $897 |
| 33 | Sheldon | 5,386 | 86 | $68,448 | $173,600 | $842 |
| 34 | Manchester | 5,144 | 86 | $58,578 | $130,500 | $743 |
| 35 | Des Moines | 212,464 | 87 | $63,966 | $183,700 | $1,054 |
| 36 | Indianola | 15,918 | 87 | $78,125 | $228,100 | $966 |
| 37 | Spencer | 11,393 | 87 | $57,068 | $178,300 | $795 |
| 38 | Perry | 7,928 | 87 | $63,983 | $122,100 | $877 |
| 39 | Webster City | 7,769 | 87 | $65,844 | $115,400 | $878 |
| 40 | Maquoketa | 6,105 | 87 | $56,039 | $126,800 | $745 |
| 41 | Algona | 5,414 | 87 | $52,542 | $156,200 | $887 |
| 42 | Iowa Falls | 5,062 | 87 | $53,051 | $106,300 | $898 |
| 43 | Council Bluffs | 62,564 | 88 | $64,092 | $164,300 | $980 |
| 44 | Boone | 12,445 | 88 | $67,269 | $156,400 | $791 |
| 45 | Winterset | 5,384 | 88 | $69,268 | $181,500 | $943 |
| 46 | Glenwood | 5,118 | 88 | $69,320 | $193,800 | $842 |
| 47 | Muscatine | 23,567 | 89 | $59,332 | $146,900 | $979 |
| 48 | Mount Pleasant | 9,093 | 89 | $59,216 | $145,600 | $773 |
| 49 | Clear Lake | 7,603 | 89 | $70,278 | $235,100 | $755 |
| 50 | Hiawatha | 7,178 | 89 | $67,628 | $210,200 | $846 |
| 51 | Orange City | 6,312 | 89 | $81,667 | $245,300 | $815 |
| 52 | Adel | 6,259 | 89 | $96,905 | $320,500 | $842 |
| 53 | Norwalk | 13,610 | 90 | $94,583 | $275,700 | $869 |
| 54 | Washington | 7,314 | 90 | $56,536 | $144,500 | $927 |
| 55 | Cedar Rapids | 136,859 | 91 | $67,859 | $177,100 | $925 |
| 56 | Davenport | 101,083 | 91 | $64,497 | $162,900 | $930 |
| 57 | Cedar Falls | 40,662 | 91 | $74,165 | $252,500 | $1,177 |
| 58 | Nevada | 6,952 | 91 | $75,221 | $177,800 | $884 |
| 59 | Dubuque | 59,271 | 92 | $64,985 | $193,100 | $943 |
| 60 | Carroll | 10,261 | 92 | $59,323 | $184,100 | $718 |
| 61 | Sioux Center | 8,335 | 92 | $87,555 | $275,900 | $884 |
| 62 | Spirit Lake | 5,469 | 92 | $73,627 | $218,400 | $885 |
| 63 | Marion | 41,690 | 93 | $87,105 | $230,800 | $978 |
| 64 | Altoona | 20,592 | 93 | $87,123 | $257,300 | $1,203 |
| 65 | Urbandale | 46,026 | 94 | $113,086 | $318,800 | $1,176 |
| 66 | Pella | 10,624 | 94 | $81,201 | $259,600 | $1,041 |
| 67 | Bondurant | 8,061 | 94 | $128,341 | $288,600 | $1,176 |
| 68 | Ankeny | 70,542 | 95 | $106,603 | $311,300 | $1,279 |
| 69 | Grimes | 15,810 | 95 | $104,497 | $281,000 | $1,156 |
| 70 | Pleasant Hill | 10,796 | 95 | $86,890 | $284,100 | $1,204 |
| 71 | West Des Moines | 69,893 | 96 | $84,925 | $286,300 | $1,194 |
| 72 | Waukee | 26,974 | 96 | $106,728 | $328,200 | $1,290 |
| 73 | Windsor Heights | 5,171 | 96 | $89,083 | $251,800 | $1,355 |
| 74 | Iowa City | 75,264 | 98 | $57,533 | $273,600 | $1,094 |
| 75 | Ames | 66,112 | 98 | $60,102 | $263,800 | $1,040 |
| 76 | Eldridge | 6,743 | 99 | $101,089 | $329,400 | $845 |
| 77 | Bettendorf | 39,297 | 100 | $102,917 | $295,600 | $1,148 |
| 78 | Johnston | 24,196 | 100 | $103,430 | $346,200 | $1,288 |
| 79 | Coralville | 22,846 | 100 | $66,508 | $286,000 | $1,021 |
| 80 | Polk City | 5,833 | 100 | $163,000 | $385,000 | $746 |
| 81 | Asbury | 5,949 | 101 | $130,071 | $312,400 | $1,379 |
| 82 | North Liberty | 20,782 | 102 | $103,933 | $300,000 | $1,226 |
| 83 | Clive | 18,776 | 103 | $131,082 | $379,000 | $1,099 |