Reviews & Comments
Iowa City, IA
Do not move here! -
1/9/2011Unless you need to come here for graduate school or are already from Iowa, please do yourself a favor and avoid this place. I grew up in IN and thought it was awful until moving here. To make a long story short. I moved to Phoenix after college and loved it. Met my husband there and he ended up getting a fellowship at the University of Iowa. We have been trying to escape this place for the past 8 years.
Why?:
I hate to generalize, but most (not ALL but most) people I have met here are rude, unfriendly and cliquey (sp?). Customer service is nonexistent. The best way I can describe it is - most service people I have come in contact with act like you are annoying them by making them do their job. Most of the friends we have made are people who are also from out of state. I made more friends in my year in AZ than I have in 8 years in this place.
I think there is a misconception that IC is safe. It depends on your perspective, but I've seen a definite downward trend in the past few years and most people who live here agree. Look up the crime ratings ON THIS SITE! They are high for a town this size. Lots of attacks downtown, robberies and assaults in middle class neighborhoods, etc.
There is nothing to do, especially if you have kids. Winter is torture because there is no place to go. There is one bowling alley that is run down and crowded (because, you know, it's the only one), an overpriced mediocre children's museum, a small indoor jungle gym, and the university's natural history museum (loses it's sparkle after about the fifth time you've been there because there's nothing else to do). After that it's pretty much boring, awful restaurants (don't get me started) and going to the movies. Oh, and going to football games. Yes, there are art and music festivals in the summer but the ones I went to were basically a place to go and walk around for an hour before going home.
Need to fly somewhere? It will cost you an arm and a leg (well, more of an arm and a leg) unless you want to drive 4 hours to St. Louis or Chicago.
People looooove to talk about how great the education is here. Out of 12 elementary schools in the IC school district 5 have a rating BELOW 3! There are a few in the 5-8 range and only 2 with a 9 rating and 1 with a rating of 10. Look it up on a school review website. The High Schools are rated very highly but are getting overcrowded and there's a big redistricting mess going on right now.
Housing is ridiculously overpriced for what you get and for it's frigid midwestern location.
Traffic is horrible for a town this size. Bad city planning.
One really positive thing is there is a great park system and an awesome recreation department for lessons and sports for kids. Thats about all I can think of.
Iowa City, IA
Do not move here! -
1/8/2011Unless you need to come here for graduate school or are already from Iowa, please do yourself a favor and avoid this place. I grew up in IN and thought it was awful until moving here. To make a long story short. I moved to Phoenix after college and loved it. Met my husband there and he ended up getting a fellowship at the University of Iowa. We have been trying to escape this place for the past 8 years.
Why?:
I hate to generalize, but most (not ALL but most) people I have met here are rude, unfriendly and cliquey (sp?). Customer service is nonexistent. The best way I can describe it is - most service people I have come in contact with act like you are annoying them by making them do their job. Most of the friends we have made are people who are also from out of state. I made more friends in my year in AZ than I have in 8 years in this place.
I think there is a misconception that IC is safe. It depends on your perspective, but I've seen a definite downward trend in the past few years and most people who live here agree. Look up the crime ratings ON THIS SITE! They are high for a town this size. Lots of attacks downtown, robberies and assaults in middle class neighborhoods, etc.
There is nothing to do, especially if you have kids. Winter is torture because there is no place to go. There is one bowling alley that is run down and crowded (because, you know, it's the only one), an overpriced mediocre children's museum, a small indoor jungle gym, and the university's natural history museum (loses it's sparkle after about the fifth time you've been there because there's nothing else to do). After that it's pretty much boring, awful restaurants (don't get me started) and going to the movies. Oh, and going to football games. Yes, there are art and music festivals in the summer but the ones I went to were basically a place to go and walk around for an hour before going home.
Need to fly somewhere? It will cost you an arm and a leg (well, more of an arm and a leg) unless you want to drive 4 hours to St. Louis or Chicago.
People looooove to talk about how great the education is here. Out of 12 elementary schools in the IC school district 5 have a rating BELOW 3! There are a few in the 5-8 range and only 2 with a 9 rating and 1 with a rating of 10. Look it up on a school review website. The High Schools are rated very highly but are getting overcrowded and there's a big redistricting mess going on right now.
Housing is ridiculously overpriced for what you get and for it's frigid midwestern location.
Traffic is horrible for a town this size. Bad city planning.
One really positive thing is there is a great park system and an awesome recreation department for lessons and sports for kids. Thats about all I can think of.
Iowa City, IA
Do NOT move here!! -
1/8/2011Unless you need to come here for grad school or are already from Iowa, please do NOT move to Iowa. Don't say I didn't warn you. I grew up in IN and thought it was an awful place until I moved to Iowa. I moved to Phoenix after graduating from college and loved it. To make a long story short, my husband ended up getting a fellowship at the University of Iowa and we ended up here. We have been trying desperately to escape for the last eight years.
Why?:
Most of the people (not ALL but most) we have met here are extremely rude, narrow minded and cliquey(sp?). Not friendly at all. Almost all of the friends we have made are also people from out of state. I hate to generalize but I want to be honest and spare others from this awful place. Customer service? LOL. No such thing.
There is nothing to do. Especially if you have kids. There is one bowling alley that is run down and pathetic (and packed since there is only one), one indoor jungle gym, an overpriced children's museum, and the universities natural history museum (which loses it's appeal after the first five times you go for lack of anything better to do). Other than that it's all mediocre food (don't even get me started) and going to the movies. We drive an hour and a half in the fall just to get to a decent pumpkin patch (Carroll's Pumpkin Farm), you get my drift. Oh, and you can go to football games. Yes, in the summer their are art festivals and whatnot, but the ones I've gone to are not much more than a place to walk around for an hour and then go home.
People have the misperception that Iowa City is safe. I guess it depends on your perspective, but I've definitely noticed a downhill trend in the last 8 years. There are lots of assaults and attacks downtown. It got so bad that they started a bus service for people after the bars close so they wouldn't get attacked. There have been break-ins in my neighborhood ( a nice quiet middle class one) and a couple of bank robberies in the past 6 months or so. Look up the crime ratings ON THIS SITE! They are high for a city of this size.
Property is outrageously overpriced for what you get and for it's frigid midwestern location. Just go to realtor.com and look at the properties in Iowa city and you will see what I'm talking about.
People loooove to talk about how great the education is here. Well, it is if you live in one of 3 elementary school districts, the rest of them are not good. Google "great schools" or find a school review website and look up Iowa city schools. The elementary schools have really gone downhill. Out of 12 elementary schools 5 of them have a rating lower than 3. There are a few in the middle with 5-8 ratings and only 3 with a rating of 9 or 10. The High Schools are supposed to be good but are getting overcrowded.
If you need to fly somewhere it's going to cost you way more money and you will have to drive to Moline, IL to get a decent flight and price. Flying out of Cedar Rapids will cost you an arm and a leg.
I could go on, but I think I'll stop here. You get the point.
Iowa City, IA
Climate -
7/7/2008The weather here is horrible. Absolutely horrible. Every season. A handful of nice days in the fall.