Lots of character, and a really good place to live
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12/15/2018
I moved here 7 years ago from about 500 miles south and west of here. So I've had enough time to get to know how things are now (2018) and get a feel for the weather and such. I've heard stories from the locals about the winter before I came, but really, since I've been here it hasn't been as bad as they described or that I thought it would be. Yes, it gets really cold for about a month, but it isn't windy most of the time, so it makes it feel about like the super windy place I came from.
As far as the people and the town, it is a big enough place (tri-state metro area is about 160,000 now) that you have good and bad. The good is really good. If you live on the Nebraska or South Dakota side, you are in good shape. If you are on the Iowa side, you have to pay attention to what part of the city you live in. There are definitely places where you can leave your doors unlocked, at least when you are home, then other places where you will need to watch yourself.
The city is interesting in that it celebrates its history (the museums are awesome for smaller museums) but it is really progressive, always looking to improve, and not afraid to tear down something old to build something new. It is funny-the locals always give directions by "where such and such" used to be.
There seems to be a lot of growth right now, both in housing and industry, and the unemployment rate here is just 2.3%! Unreal! The businesses around here are desperate for employees, and the manufacturing growth really has been driving that. Housing has gone up a fair amount in the 7 years I lived here, but I think it is probably still way lower than the national average.
It is hard to use these in the winter, but in the summer, this town has some awesome stuff to do! They have really nice bike trails that are in about every part of town, and I was looking at their planning map, and they look like they are going to make some improvements to connect the trails together. I will be able to bike all the way from my house to my work on a paved trail 7 miles! Pretty cool! They have some neat parks too. Grandview park is so cool. It isn't so much for recreation, but it has a rose garden, a bandshell with weekly concerts in the summer, and some Grand views! Bacon creek has really nice walking trails, and you can take no-wake boats out. Sertoma/Cone park also has nice trails, and a really cool tubing hill with a lift! Then they have a couple of big parks, South Ravine and Ston
Hans | Sioux City, IA