Welcome to the happiest places in Iowa.
Using Saturday Night Science and data, we determined the cities and towns with the most rainbows, butterflies, puppies, and unicorns.
You know, the places where people have jobs, white-picked fences, and friendly neighbors – unicorn cities.
After analyzing the 85 largest cities, we happily present the happiest cities in the Hawkeye State.
36.0% married households · 6.0% poverty · #1 happiest in Iowa
Located in
Marion County, IowaPella is by far the happiest place in the state of Iowa. Let’s see why.
First off, having a solid family life is a good indication of how happy someone is. Lots of the residents of Pella aren’t missing out on love; more than 36% of them are married. Plus, the average commute time here is only about 13 minutes each way. That means a lot more time with the spouse and kids.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
37.0% married households · 11.2% poverty · #2 happiest in Iowa
Things look to be pretty pleasant in Orange City. Crime is really low here, and the percentage of married residents (37%) mean there’s lots of stability at home.
In addition to those factors, there is a thriving amount of community involvement. Studies have shown that a key factor to happiness is when people volunteer, especially in their own neighborhoods.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
30.0% married households · 15.7% poverty · #3 happiest in Iowa
Located in
Black Hawk County, IowaThe people who live in Cedar Falls have a lot going for them. 51% of them have college degrees, and they command some of the highest salaries in IA. 30% of the people here are married.
Most of these all tops in the entire state.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
44.0% married households · 11.4% poverty · #4 happiest in Iowa
Manchester is where you can bet there are lots of smiley and happy people all over town. Crime is essentially something that just doesn’t happen here very often. And when you can let your guard down and relax a little, the lack of stress really makes a difference.
Same goes on the job front. Only 3.5% of residents here are out of work. Sounds like there are jobs for just about everyone who wants one. Which must be a good feeling to have.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
38.0% married households · 8.3% poverty · #5 happiest in Iowa
Located in
Cerro Gordo County, IowaIf you want to see a bunch of happy people, go to Clear Lake. It seriously looks like something out of a commercial.
They have a 18 minute commute time, which means lots more time with the kids.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
38.0% married households · 9.5% poverty · #6 happiest in Iowa
For those who say that money doesn’t buy happiness, you’re half right. Studies have shown that people are happy up to a certain point when it comes to annual salaries, somewhere around $72,000 a year. After that, it doesn’t matter how much you make, you’re not going to be much happier.
The residents of Sergeant Bluff have that covered. Plus about 38% of households are married.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
42.0% married households · 15.3% poverty · #7 happiest in Iowa
Most of the people in Sheldon have to be ‘plum’ happy. True happiness is ‘Home Sweet Home’ with your kids and spouse, being reminded to do chores, run errands and fold the clothes right.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
30.0% married households · 17.4% poverty · #8 happiest in Iowa
Located in
Cass County, IowaLess than 1.1% of the residents in Atlantic are jobless, which is just about as low as you’ll see.
Incomes are steady, and commute times are really low as well. That really takes away the stress factors that stop folks from relaxing and enjoying their ‘down time’ to do the little things that matter: Walks in the park, time alone with a book and extra face time with the children.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
36.0% married households · 8.9% poverty · #9 happiest in Iowa
Located in
Carroll County, IowaAbout 27% of residents in Carroll, IA have a college degree. While we’ve all heard the saying, ‘Ignorance is bliss,’ our argument is: Ignorance is also broke.
Not only are most of the residents of Carroll smart, they’re safe, too.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
35.0% married households · 18.5% poverty · #10 happiest in Iowa
In Cherokee, most of the population is married, and most own their own homes.
The commute times (12 minutes each way) might eventually start to turn the corners of those smiles sideways.
But for now, it’s all roses in Cherokee.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Iowa’s statewide median.
Iowa statewide median: $231,585
Iowa statewide median: 11.1%
On the map
Where the happiest places in Iowa are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How We Measured The Happiest Cities In The Hawkeye State
To rank the happiest places in Iowa, we had to determine what criteria make people happy. It isn’t a stretch to assume that happy people earn great salaries, are relatively stress-free, and have a stable home life.
So we went to the Census’s American Community Survey 2020-2024 report for the happy criteria, added some Saturday Night Science, and generated the answer.
Here are the criteria we used to measure happiness:
- Percentage of residents with a college degree
- Average commute times
- Unemployment rates
- Cost of living
- % of married couples
- % of families with kids
- Poverty rate
After we decided on the criteria, we gathered the data for the 85 places in Iowa with over 5,000 people.
We then ranked each place from one to 85 for each of the seven criteria, with a score of one being the happiest.
Next, we averaged the seven rankings into a Happy Index for each place with the lowest overall Happy Index “earning” the title “Happiest City In Iowa.”
If you’d like to see the complete list of cities, happiest to saddest, scroll to the bottom of this post to see the unabridged chart.
We updated this article for 2026, and it’s our eleventh time ranking the happiest cities in Iowa.
The full plate
Happiest Cities In Iowa For 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Happy Index | Population | Poverty Level | Median Home Value | % Married | % Kids |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pella | 25.14 | 10,720 | 6.0% | $351,502 | 36.0% | 24.8% |
| 2 | Orange City | 27.93 | 6,426 | 11.2% | $314,346 | 37.0% | 34.1% |
| 3 | Cedar Falls | 28.36 | 40,888 | 15.7% | $259,137 | 30.0% | 21.9% |
| 4 | Manchester | 29.14 | 5,191 | 11.4% | $222,974 | 44.0% | 21.5% |
| 5 | Clear Lake | 29.21 | 7,607 | 8.3% | $322,831 | 38.0% | 17.9% |
| 6 | Sergeant Bluff | 29.50 | 5,171 | 9.5% | $354,762 | 38.0% | 41.5% |
| 7 | Sheldon | 30.14 | 5,474 | 15.3% | $220,403 | 42.0% | 26.5% |
| 8 | Atlantic | 30.29 | 6,763 | 17.4% | $158,965 | 30.0% | 24.1% |
| 9 | Carroll | 30.57 | 10,208 | 8.9% | $200,081 | 36.0% | 21.2% |
| 10 | Cherokee | 30.86 | 5,154 | 18.5% | $148,066 | 35.0% | 24.9% |
| 11 | Windsor Heights | 30.93 | 5,143 | 6.2% | $282,953 | 42.0% | 30.2% |
| 12 | Ames | 31.57 | 67,669 | 25.5% | $274,367 | 13.0% | 15.5% |
| 13 | Iowa City | 31.79 | 75,752 | 26.3% | $298,092 | 14.0% | 17.2% |
| 14 | Tiffin | 33.50 | 5,737 | 7.6% | $327,121 | 42.0% | 35.9% |
| 15 | Asbury | 33.86 | 5,989 | 3.2% | $381,428 | 43.0% | 44.3% |
| 16 | Johnston | 34.50 | 24,384 | 10.2% | $394,441 | 34.0% | 38.2% |
| 17 | Algona | 34.93 | 5,377 | 6.9% | $179,883 | 35.0% | 24.1% |
| 18 | West Des Moines | 35.36 | 71,083 | 8.4% | $320,156 | 24.0% | 25.7% |
| 19 | Decorah | 35.93 | 7,535 | 8.1% | $304,335 | 22.0% | 14.7% |
| 20 | Spirit Lake | 36.07 | 5,518 | 6.3% | $328,918 | 33.0% | 25.9% |
| 21 | Waverly | 36.29 | 10,494 | 10.9% | $271,473 | 34.0% | 29.2% |
| 22 | Coralville | 36.36 | 23,234 | 13.0% | $256,223 | 21.0% | 25.6% |
| 23 | Dubuque | 36.79 | 59,174 | 12.7% | $245,147 | 30.0% | 24.2% |
| 24 | Mason City | 36.86 | 27,050 | 12.0% | $154,095 | 37.0% | 24.6% |
| 25 | Sioux Center | 37.14 | 8,454 | 2.2% | $345,761 | 30.0% | 39.0% |
| 26 | Eldridge | 37.21 | 6,818 | 1.3% | $347,341 | 39.0% | 42.1% |
| 27 | Urbandale | 37.29 | 46,595 | 6.8% | $349,851 | 37.0% | 34.7% |
| 28 | Spencer | 38.07 | 11,400 | 14.0% | $193,031 | 31.0% | 22.3% |
| 29 | Grinnell | 38.07 | 9,505 | 11.1% | $208,194 | 21.0% | 21.9% |
| 30 | Fairfield | 38.36 | 9,456 | 20.7% | $158,194 | 15.0% | 19.5% |
| 31 | Mount Pleasant | 38.93 | 8,951 | 15.7% | $191,462 | 24.0% | 29.4% |
| 32 | Nevada | 39.21 | 6,983 | 9.9% | $241,439 | 32.0% | 28.8% |
| 33 | Bondurant | 39.57 | 8,560 | 6.2% | $330,602 | 42.0% | 55.1% |
| 34 | Adel | 39.86 | 6,430 | 7.2% | $390,598 | 45.0% | 39.0% |
| 35 | Ankeny | 40.07 | 72,615 | 4.2% | $338,168 | 36.0% | 37.1% |
| 36 | Independence | 40.29 | 6,164 | 7.6% | $216,073 | 43.0% | 27.4% |
| 37 | Boone | 40.43 | 12,424 | 8.3% | $210,007 | 37.0% | 29.1% |
| 38 | Grimes | 40.50 | 16,366 | 4.4% | $348,193 | 34.0% | 38.5% |
| 39 | Polk City | 40.50 | 6,037 | 6.7% | $427,587 | 53.0% | 36.7% |
| 40 | Creston | 40.50 | 7,435 | 15.8% | $152,979 | 24.0% | 25.5% |
| 41 | Le Mars | 40.57 | 10,640 | 9.2% | $275,107 | 36.0% | 31.6% |
| 42 | Marion | 41.36 | 41,896 | 8.1% | $271,355 | 42.0% | 34.0% |
| 43 | Oskaloosa | 42.71 | 11,504 | 16.6% | $186,483 | 32.0% | 28.9% |
| 44 | Washington | 42.93 | 7,290 | 12.8% | $190,722 | 28.0% | 24.5% |
| 45 | Clive | 43.14 | 19,012 | 7.3% | $425,730 | 32.0% | 37.7% |
| 46 | Waukee | 43.64 | 29,236 | 7.4% | $338,881 | 30.0% | 38.2% |
| 47 | Centerville | 43.64 | 5,372 | 21.3% | $80,251 | 24.0% | 20.3% |
| 48 | Hiawatha | 43.86 | 7,206 | 13.7% | $254,300 | 26.0% | 35.7% |
| 49 | Cedar Rapids | 44.07 | 137,264 | 10.8% | $204,112 | 28.0% | 26.7% |
| 50 | Knoxville | 44.71 | 7,473 | 12.5% | $203,230 | 44.0% | 28.3% |
| 51 | Norwalk | 44.79 | 14,183 | 4.2% | $332,836 | 42.0% | 38.3% |
| 52 | Bettendorf | 45.21 | 39,647 | 6.7% | $328,096 | 25.0% | 35.2% |
| 53 | Clinton | 45.43 | 24,322 | 18.5% | $127,331 | 28.0% | 24.0% |
| 54 | Charles City | 45.57 | 7,232 | 13.3% | $140,721 | 33.0% | 20.9% |
| 55 | Burlington | 47.21 | 23,728 | 13.2% | $123,915 | 31.0% | 26.5% |
| 56 | Iowa Falls | 47.43 | 5,038 | 10.7% | $130,589 | 34.0% | 22.8% |
| 57 | Glenwood | 47.43 | 5,144 | 11.8% | $310,533 | 21.0% | 29.3% |
| 58 | Waterloo | 48.00 | 67,008 | 16.6% | $143,280 | 26.0% | 26.2% |
| 59 | Davenport | 48.00 | 100,913 | 15.2% | $187,412 | 22.0% | 24.9% |
| 60 | Red Oak | 48.50 | 5,510 | 21.9% | $136,874 | 33.0% | 29.7% |
| 61 | Council Bluffs | 48.57 | 62,586 | 15.1% | $223,906 | 22.0% | 27.7% |
| 62 | Estherville | 48.57 | 5,839 | 12.6% | $122,713 | 25.0% | 20.4% |
| 63 | Indianola | 48.93 | 16,044 | 6.4% | $309,171 | 32.0% | 30.6% |
| 64 | Pleasant Hill | 49.21 | 11,136 | 8.9% | $299,730 | 37.0% | 33.8% |
| 65 | North Liberty | 49.93 | 21,125 | 6.1% | $307,636 | 26.0% | 33.7% |
| 66 | Muscatine | 50.29 | 23,489 | 19.1% | $184,866 | 23.0% | 34.2% |
| 67 | Sioux City | 50.71 | 86,101 | 15.3% | $196,299 | 23.0% | 32.6% |
| 68 | Des Moines | 51.71 | 212,421 | 15.0% | $208,166 | 21.0% | 29.2% |
| 69 | Winterset | 51.71 | 5,416 | 10.3% | $289,608 | 28.0% | 30.8% |
| 70 | Maquoketa | 51.86 | 6,075 | 14.2% | $197,794 | 36.0% | 25.7% |
| 71 | Altoona | 51.93 | 21,495 | 8.3% | $317,902 | 34.0% | 33.9% |
| 72 | Newton | 52.14 | 15,700 | 11.1% | $200,884 | 33.0% | 23.1% |
| 73 | Fort Dodge | 52.43 | 24,827 | 15.9% | $129,004 | 24.0% | 23.0% |
| 74 | Keokuk | 54.64 | 9,662 | 18.3% | $80,981 | 24.0% | 29.5% |
| 75 | Oelwein | 55.50 | 5,834 | 18.5% | $109,878 | 35.0% | 26.1% |
| 76 | Clarinda | 55.86 | 5,353 | 12.1% | $125,019 | 23.0% | 22.8% |
| 77 | Ottumwa | 56.00 | 25,430 | 17.2% | $121,425 | 26.0% | 35.0% |
| 78 | Denison | 56.29 | 8,260 | 17.5% | $176,095 | 20.0% | 41.4% |
| 79 | Webster City | 56.71 | 7,769 | 8.6% | $147,379 | 33.0% | 31.5% |
| 80 | Marshalltown | 57.21 | 27,626 | 14.3% | $173,581 | 22.0% | 33.4% |
| 81 | Storm Lake | 57.29 | 11,428 | 7.0% | $177,022 | 17.0% | 32.7% |
| 82 | Anamosa | 59.14 | 5,629 | 18.5% | $243,589 | 25.0% | 40.5% |
| 83 | Osceola | 61.36 | 5,523 | 6.4% | $187,628 | 37.0% | 32.9% |
| 84 | Fort Madison | 62.14 | 10,133 | 15.0% | $109,640 | 26.0% | 26.8% |
| 85 | Perry | 64.79 | 7,985 | 8.9% | $172,452 | 18.0% | 29.3% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 85 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
There You Have It – The Happiest Cities In Iowa
As we said earlier, trying to determine the most miserable cities in Iowa is usually a subjective matter.
But if you’re analyzing cities where people are not stable, where you’re stuck in traffic, and no one spent the time to go to college, then this is an accurate list.
The happiest cities in Iowa are Pella, Orange City, Cedar Falls, Manchester, Clear Lake, Sergeant Bluff, Sheldon, Atlantic, Carroll, and Cherokee.
