I'm from the Philly area but I spent 1 year on Cedar Rapids. I had a good laugh. You should see Philly, some place are fantastic and some places are scary.
No lie! Dirty Dodge (AKA "Fort Fun'), or the rectum of Iowa... CLINTON. Waterloo was a going place until the railroads, Rath packing, and John Deere either went away or drastically cut employment in the early 80's. Waterloo was a nice city until the 80's.
I have lived in Iowa for 19 years. All I know is some of the smaller towns have higher crime rate too. Here in a town 30 minutes from Des Monies it’s have a bad meth problem here and a lot of the businesses are closing. To major companies closes. It’s still jobs here but the pay is really bad. Works have to work second jobs because the pay here is so bad.
I think that in every large city, you have to take this information with a grain of salt. These cities have some bad neighborhoods and some good neighborhoods. I was surprised that Muscatine (where I currently live) made this list. I don't think there is a neighborhood in this town where I'd be afraid to walk alone at night. Unfortunately, there are places in Dubuque (where I used to live and which I would suspect would be considered one of the best places to live in Iowa) where I would be quite afraid to walk at night. So, it is a big generality to list one entire city worse than another just because it might have a rough neighborhood that you don't need to live in and don't even need to visit if you lived elsewhere in that city.
What happened to Maquokets? I worked there. one winter in the late 90s and it was a wonderful small town. The people were great and it was safe any time of day or night.
Nothing happened to Maquoketa. It is still a nice, small city in Iowa. This guy is trying to sell houses and he wants you to buy in his markets, so he tries to make the rest of the state look bad.
A little more diverse than early 90s now but not any worse crime wise than then. I moved back here in 2016 and it was the best decision ever. I lived in San Diego, Denver, Greeley, CO, and Joplin, MO and this place I would take over all of those. Especially when raising kids.
@@patricktecklenburg1935 That murder at Maquoketa Caves was committed by a man visiting from Nebraska. It shouldn't really count as a black mark for Maquoketa IMO. I've been to Maquoketa several times and I never saw anything to suggest that it is anything but a nice town.
Pella is good. Fine old college town. Central College is quite good. Not cheap. Requires excellent collegiate ability. The Dutchman ranked well in football.
Marshalltown in central Iowa is getting out of control! For our population we have had 4 murders in the last few months. This is my hometown and im watching it crumble.
@@darkslothplants the town is riddled with drugs and theft. If you have children I wouldn't move here. Not much activity wise to do... we have 1 bowling alley and 1 movie theater the only place to shop is walmart or dollar general. No younkers or penny's or kohl's or target... it's really sad. And the crime is getting out of control... 5 murders now this year maybe 6 one was supposed to be a self unaliving but it's suspicious. Those murders were all in the last 3 months btw... there are nice small towns all within 15 miles of here... state center. Albion, glad rook, green mountain. Legrand( which is real nice) Ferguson, Laural Haverhill Melbourne. Good luck in your adventures
@@darkslothplants Marshalltown has crumbled for over 30 years. I would live in Neveda, State Center, Grundy Center, Conrad... hell, I'd live in Colo before Marshalltown. But I like small towns anyway.
Speaking as a resident of Keokuk, not sure what he is referring to in terms of the crime here. Most of the crime is nonviolent. Its mostly meth and property crimes, which is nothing new to the Midwest unfortunately. But murder, assault, and armed robberies are virtually unheard of here. Not sure why we would be only safer than 6% of all US neighborhoods. We don't have any shootings or criminal gangs running around stabbing people. Sure, the south side of Keokuk is an eyesore, but the northern side of Keokuk is actually fairly well off. Rand Park and Grand Ave have very nice homes and its a beautiful area. And the newer neighborhoods on the northwest side of the city are even nicer. The roads do kind of suck, so there is a point against it there. I can't speak to the quality of the education system as I do not have kids and grew up in Florida. Keokuk has abandoned buildings due to the death of the commercial retail market, thus a very empty main street. And due to alot of economic issues, the population is shrinking and thus there are homes that are neglected and fall down. Most of the jobs are industrial or retail in nature. The city demos several homes a year due to this problem. This is not unique as this is happening everywhere in the Midwest. Keokuk is not an awful place to live. I've seen alot worse in places like Gary or Chicago. TBH this video seems like it was looked at via statistics on the surface and little else.
Thanks for your well thought out input. I have family who owns a cabin in Illinois real close to Keokuk. Been through there a few times and compared to where I am at in Cedar Rapids it seems really run down to me. Agreed on Gary or Chicago and Iowa has nothing like that anywhere luckily. I personally am not a huge fan of Keokuk or Ft. Madison. I have not lived there and don't plan to but had to make a list and Keokuk seems by the statistics to be the worst. I have a friend who lived there and now is in Cedar Rapids and he said the real estate is not the best there. Appreciate your input and when you make content its hard to keep everyone happy with your content. I do really think you made great points tho!
Great video. I found it difficult to understand homelessness in Iowa. Freezing cold there. Panhandle the money for a bus ticket out. I met someone from Maine, and they said the homeless stay because they do not want to lose their drug connections.
Good morning. I don't live in Iowa. I have been watching your videos. I am in Oregon renting. The Midwest is affordable. Thank you for the Neighborhood scout. I'll be searching around the Midwest for crime scores above 50%:)@@LIVINGINIOWA
For the record, Fort Madison is fine. It's safer than most Southern Ca cities that are directly connected by the Amtrak line. You're more likely to get murdered on the train in Socal than Fort Madison.
I wonder if these smaller towns have such high crime rates because the local law enforcement there have not kept pace with the criminals. I'm talking about the transplants from neighboring places like Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City, who come to Iowa for cheaper cost of living and to exploit the lack of local law enforcement in terms of manpower and awareness. Even surpassing this number is the number of illegal immigrants flowing to interior regions of the country, specifically the Midwest, precisely for the same reasons as local criminals but also the work opportunities here in factories and on farms. I'm from a medium sized town in Iowa that is not on your list and I can tell you that we don't have the elevated problems here like other places because our sheriff and police forces are well manned and represented well on the streets. We have our share of problems, in fact I'm going to the websites you sourced for your video and see how my hometown ranks amongst the dregs of Iowa.
This guy is from Cedar Rapids. Seems to have a blind spot. I've lived and worked in Burlington, Des Moines, Iowa City, Coralville, Davenport, and Cedar Rapids and worked in Ft. Madison, Muscatine, Marion, and Mt. Pleasant. Cedar Rapids was the only town that I had to drive my employee back to tha county jail at the end of her shift.
Who opened the door for chicago area residents to move here, probably 20 yrs ago? That's what I'd like to know. And, the story is the same across america: most towns have a limited amount of decent paying jobs. Everybody else is relegated to poverty.
Davenport is 1 of the quad cities and the quad cities is a very violent place with lots of crime it’s total population is a little over 400,000 people the 90th largest city in America. 4th in the untied states with a drug and alcohol problem and yes lots of crime and drugs addicts and a lot of gangs. A lot of gangs come from Chicago because it’s only 2 hours away. Davenport rockisland and east moline are the worse .. above the hill in moline is safe and Bettendorf is the safest area in the quad cities
Also the cost of living is awful too. People try to compare with the bigger city but at this time the economy is bad everywhere. But the small towns are getting worse than the bigger city with drug problems, and racism in the school and community.
Me and my wife are looking to move in a couple years to cedar rapids from arizona never lived anywhere else but have fell inlove with iowa is there any areas in cedar rapids to avoid?
@@Jayleewildwhy is that? Just curious because we’re looking to move to this area soon. Not CR proper but rather Marion, North Liberty, Coralville or even Hiawatha/Robins
@@JimmyJams87 I live in Cedar Rapids. It's a great place to raise a family and there's lots to do. Not ideal for young 20 somethings looking for excitement. I love it here because I can afford to live the way I want. Des Moines might be better for me had I not planted my roots here. I'm 32.
Iowa is a great place to grow up in. Went to Abraham Lincoln High School. Not what he said re education. Things he listed happen in all states and cities.i defend Council Bluffs any day
The southeast part of the state has been turned into poverty for years had a aunt that lived in Mystic Iowa since the thirties and it was turning into a ghost town then northeast Iowa is the same way maybe slightly better few good paying jobs in these areas
Agriculture, insurance, is the economy most small towns, dieing, others practically ghost towns , schools consolidated, lots of state employees,and former,🤐
Yeah...I mean, I don't know about this video. I'm sure the info is accurate, but it might be a little misleading. Council Bluffs AKA CouncilTucky is a real POS though 😅
As a former resident of Muscatine, there's nothing there to bring in people or keep people to stay as the population hasn't grown since 1980. HNI is one of the few places to work that's above service jobs and it's pull on the economy is noticeable. The area of downtown is propped up by HNI and it's visitors Hotel Muscatine is the only hotel in the downtown area while every other property is economy stays located to the north east of the city.
Oh, yikes. I have to heavily disagree with the info sourced for this video! You mention many communities that have multi-lingual and cultural households, many children considered in “school gradings” are first generation and learning English solely at school. Their comprehension is lower due to newer language rules, hence low school scores. The communities you mention don’t come across as ones you have lived in or visited, I have in most. Don’t speak down on your fellow Iowans, we are all one state. Mention public school funding cuts, and benefits for lower income households cuts. You worked at a jail, ok, this is not research but observed opinion pertaining to Burlington. This is my first time seeing your videos, not a great first impression. Use actual studies, not Google, neighbor.
The answer is more gun laws, firearms bans and confiscations, and defunding the police… that’ll fix it! Why is it that more and more gun laws are enacted every year, but the crime rate keeps going up? Maybe it ain’t the guns after all? JS.
🤔Thinking about Moving to Iowa? Let us help! ✅
📱Call or Text 319.480.3875
📧 Tony@luekenre.com
Thanks for the information. My husband and I are considering moving to Iowa (he's originally from the Midwest) so we've been watching your videos.
Yw! We are glad to make them for people like yourself. Reach out if you need anything at all!
We are getting ready to move to Elkader Iowa it’s a very nice area. Not sure the school ratings. 1200 in population no crime
Leave your liberal ideas behind if you have them...
Northeast Iowa is beautiful. Check it out.
@@Jayleewildkeep your MAGA ideas to yourself.
Keokuk is actually part of Missouri, which you can see looking at any map.
Council Bluffs has a Runza, which technically makes it part of Nebraska.
@@annoyedok321 Keokuk is definitely Iowa. I have family and a friend from there
One thing the Mississippi River towns have in common is the influx of model citizens from Chicago. Smaller more affordable communities suffer
I live by Dubuque, and I can confirm this
"model"? hardly.
I'm from the Philly area but I spent 1 year on Cedar Rapids. I had a good laugh. You should see Philly, some place are fantastic and some places are scary.
@@jjboyd01 Iowa isn’t bad at all I agree
Iowa is safe., every place has shady characters, Iowa has few. Scary? You should go down South.
how did dirty dodge not make this list
No lie! Dirty Dodge (AKA "Fort Fun'), or the rectum of Iowa... CLINTON. Waterloo was a going place until the railroads, Rath packing, and John Deere either went away or drastically cut employment in the early 80's. Waterloo was a nice city until the 80's.
Ft Dodge has been getting a lot of lipstick lately. But, like, I get it. You can put all the lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig.
I wondered that too. I was seriously expecting it to be no. 1 on this list.
I have lived in Iowa for 19 years. All I know is some of the smaller towns have higher crime rate too. Here in a town 30 minutes from Des Monies it’s have a bad meth problem here and a lot of the businesses are closing. To major companies closes. It’s still jobs here but the pay is really bad. Works have to work second jobs because the pay here is so bad.
Yes, it is! Cedar Valley is a great area. I currently live in Waterloo. I love My Waterloo!
I think that in every large city, you have to take this information with a grain of salt. These cities have some bad neighborhoods and some good neighborhoods. I was surprised that Muscatine (where I currently live) made this list. I don't think there is a neighborhood in this town where I'd be afraid to walk alone at night. Unfortunately, there are places in Dubuque (where I used to live and which I would suspect would be considered one of the best places to live in Iowa) where I would be quite afraid to walk at night. So, it is a big generality to list one entire city worse than another just because it might have a rough neighborhood that you don't need to live in and don't even need to visit if you lived elsewhere in that city.
Welp, I was certain Fort Dodge would be #1 but, that tells me this list is error-filled-lol.
And the No. 1 star, Clinton, isn't there either. I would put Dirty Dodge behind Ottumwa and Council Tucky TBH.
Elkader Iowa is awesome no crime a small area
My fam is originally from Edgewood and colesburg area
Elkader is a nice town. I like kayaking the turkey river
What happened to Maquokets? I worked there. one winter in the late 90s and it was a wonderful small town. The people were great and it was safe any time of day or night.
Nothing happened to Maquoketa. It is still a nice, small city in Iowa. This guy is trying to sell houses and he wants you to buy in his markets, so he tries to make the rest of the state look bad.
@@christophercongdon7081 I'm glad to hear that, I like Maquoketa. It's classic small town America.
There was a really awful murder that happened at the Maquoketa Caves a couple years ago. Idunno if it would be on the list if not for that.
A little more diverse than early 90s now but not any worse crime wise than then. I moved back here in 2016 and it was the best decision ever. I lived in San Diego, Denver, Greeley, CO, and Joplin, MO and this place I would take over all of those. Especially when raising kids.
@@patricktecklenburg1935 That murder at Maquoketa Caves was committed by a man visiting from Nebraska. It shouldn't really count as a black mark for Maquoketa IMO. I've been to Maquoketa several times and I never saw anything to suggest that it is anything but a nice town.
This guy needs to learn how to pronounce Maquoketa. And he needs to STOP REPEATING HIMSELF!!
Pella is good. Fine old college town. Central College is quite good. Not cheap. Requires excellent collegiate ability. The Dutchman ranked well in football.
As a Keokuk resident I should have seen that comming
Marshalltown in central Iowa is getting out of control! For our population we have had 4 murders in the last few months. This is my hometown and im watching it crumble.
Could you tell me anything else about that area? My family is looking into moving there but we aren’t sure what it’s really like
@@darkslothplants the town is riddled with drugs and theft. If you have children I wouldn't move here. Not much activity wise to do... we have 1 bowling alley and 1 movie theater the only place to shop is walmart or dollar general. No younkers or penny's or kohl's or target... it's really sad. And the crime is getting out of control... 5 murders now this year maybe 6 one was supposed to be a self unaliving but it's suspicious. Those murders were all in the last 3 months btw... there are nice small towns all within 15 miles of here... state center. Albion, glad rook, green mountain. Legrand( which is real nice) Ferguson, Laural Haverhill Melbourne. Good luck in your adventures
@@darkslothplants Marshalltown has crumbled for over 30 years. I would live in Neveda, State Center, Grundy Center, Conrad... hell, I'd live in Colo before Marshalltown. But I like small towns anyway.
Speaking as a resident of Keokuk, not sure what he is referring to in terms of the crime here. Most of the crime is nonviolent. Its mostly meth and property crimes, which is nothing new to the Midwest unfortunately. But murder, assault, and armed robberies are virtually unheard of here. Not sure why we would be only safer than 6% of all US neighborhoods. We don't have any shootings or criminal gangs running around stabbing people.
Sure, the south side of Keokuk is an eyesore, but the northern side of Keokuk is actually fairly well off. Rand Park and Grand Ave have very nice homes and its a beautiful area. And the newer neighborhoods on the northwest side of the city are even nicer. The roads do kind of suck, so there is a point against it there.
I can't speak to the quality of the education system as I do not have kids and grew up in Florida.
Keokuk has abandoned buildings due to the death of the commercial retail market, thus a very empty main street. And due to alot of economic issues, the population is shrinking and thus there are homes that are neglected and fall down. Most of the jobs are industrial or retail in nature. The city demos several homes a year due to this problem. This is not unique as this is happening everywhere in the Midwest.
Keokuk is not an awful place to live. I've seen alot worse in places like Gary or Chicago. TBH this video seems like it was looked at via statistics on the surface and little else.
Thanks for your well thought out input. I have family who owns a cabin in Illinois real close to Keokuk. Been through there a few times and compared to where I am at in Cedar Rapids it seems really run down to me. Agreed on Gary or Chicago and Iowa has nothing like that anywhere luckily. I personally am not a huge fan of Keokuk or Ft. Madison. I have not lived there and don't plan to but had to make a list and Keokuk seems by the statistics to be the worst. I have a friend who lived there and now is in Cedar Rapids and he said the real estate is not the best there.
Appreciate your input and when you make content its hard to keep everyone happy with your content. I do really think you made great points tho!
Great video. I found it difficult to understand homelessness in Iowa. Freezing cold there. Panhandle the money for a bus ticket out. I met someone from Maine, and they said the homeless stay because they do not want to lose their drug connections.
Thanks! Where in Iowa were you?
Good morning. I don't live in Iowa. I have been watching your videos. I am in Oregon renting. The Midwest is affordable. Thank you for the Neighborhood scout. I'll be searching around the Midwest for crime scores above 50%:)@@LIVINGINIOWA
Wow the ignorance is strong here
For the record, Fort Madison is fine. It's safer than most Southern Ca cities that are directly connected by the Amtrak line. You're more likely to get murdered on the train in Socal than Fort Madison.
I wonder if these smaller towns have such high crime rates because the local law enforcement there have not kept pace with the criminals. I'm talking about the transplants from neighboring places like Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City, who come to Iowa for cheaper cost of living and to exploit the lack of local law enforcement in terms of manpower and awareness. Even surpassing this number is the number of illegal immigrants flowing to interior regions of the country, specifically the Midwest, precisely for the same reasons as local criminals but also the work opportunities here in factories and on farms. I'm from a medium sized town in Iowa that is not on your list and I can tell you that we don't have the elevated problems here like other places because our sheriff and police forces are well manned and represented well on the streets. We have our share of problems, in fact I'm going to the websites you sourced for your video and see how my hometown ranks amongst the dregs of Iowa.
Clinton, Ottumwa, and Fort Dodge all must have just missed making it
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
This guy is from Cedar Rapids. Seems to have a blind spot. I've lived and worked in Burlington, Des Moines, Iowa City, Coralville, Davenport, and Cedar Rapids and worked in Ft. Madison, Muscatine, Marion, and Mt. Pleasant. Cedar Rapids was the only town that I had to drive my employee back to tha county jail at the end of her shift.
I’ve live in SE Iowa for 23 years. This area is a lot better off with regard to taxes, cost of living and housing. I’m staying put.
Who opened the door for chicago area residents to move here, probably 20 yrs ago? That's what I'd like to know. And, the story is the same across america: most towns have a limited amount of decent paying jobs. Everybody else is relegated to poverty.
That happened to Dubuque to you know
True. And all for the claim of increased diversity. Sad. :(
Davenport on the west end at night can be a cesspool.
I’ve heard that
Davenport is only decent if you are in the north end. Central dav and the west end is bad.
@@Ronniejamesleo i only worked on the westend i know that and downtown was a shit hole i lived in moline
Davenport is 1 of the quad cities and the quad cities is a very violent place with lots of crime it’s total population is a little over 400,000 people the 90th largest city in America. 4th in the untied states with a drug and alcohol problem and yes lots of crime and drugs addicts and a lot of gangs. A lot of gangs come from Chicago because it’s only 2 hours away. Davenport rockisland and east moline are the worse .. above the hill in moline is safe and Bettendorf is the safest area in the quad cities
@@KingAries85 Davenport's population as of 2024 is 110.000.
😮😮😮😮some are my friends in LA.
Also the cost of living is awful too. People try to compare with the bigger city but at this time the economy is bad everywhere. But the small towns are getting worse than the bigger city with drug problems, and racism in the school and community.
Where is Ottumwa, the armpit of Iowa? Also known as "Little Chicago" due to the gang problem.
My grandpa said they called Ottumwa Little Chicago back in the 1930's. Dirty Dodge and Clinton not on list makes no sense either.
Me and my wife are looking to move in a couple years to cedar rapids from arizona never lived anywhere else but have fell inlove with iowa is there any areas in cedar rapids to avoid?
Give us a text or call anytime but here is a website to use to look at crime. www.neighborhoodscout.com/ia/cedar-rapids/crime.amp
All of CR is shit
@@Jayleewildwhy is that? Just curious because we’re looking to move to this area soon. Not CR proper but rather Marion, North Liberty, Coralville or even Hiawatha/Robins
@@JimmyJams87 I live in Cedar Rapids. It's a great place to raise a family and there's lots to do. Not ideal for young 20 somethings looking for excitement. I love it here because I can afford to live the way I want. Des Moines might be better for me had I not planted my roots here. I'm 32.
Iowa is a great place to grow up in. Went to Abraham Lincoln High School. Not what he said re education. Things he listed happen in all states and cities.i defend Council Bluffs any day
The southeast part of the state has been turned into poverty for years had a aunt that lived in Mystic Iowa since the thirties and it was turning into a ghost town then northeast Iowa is the same way maybe slightly better few good paying jobs in these areas
Poverty is the 1# industry of rural Iowa 🤐
Agriculture, insurance, is the economy most small towns, dieing, others practically ghost towns , schools consolidated, lots of state employees,and former,🤐
Only event Iowa makes money on is the Iowa State Fair
Yeah...I mean, I don't know about this video. I'm sure the info is accurate, but it might be a little misleading. Council Bluffs AKA CouncilTucky is a real POS though 😅
Council bluffs is a nice place. Low crime. Plenty to do. Nice people. Safe and not what he says.
It’s good points but there are some noticeable red flags. But that’s everywhere these days.
COUNCIL BLUFFS MENTIONED💯💯💯RAHH🐿️🐿️🐿️🐿️🔥🔥🔥🔥
Its a nice place to live. Low crime. Plenty to do. Nice people.
@@Jean-c7i Council Tucky.
But But Caitlen Clark is from Des Moines.
West Des Moines
Des Moines doesnt even have 6 high schools - let alone 10. Please name the 10 Des Moines high schools rated B-.
As a former resident of Muscatine, there's nothing there to bring in people or keep people to stay as the population hasn't grown since 1980. HNI is one of the few places to work that's above service jobs and it's pull on the economy is noticeable. The area of downtown is propped up by HNI and it's visitors Hotel Muscatine is the only hotel in the downtown area while every other property is economy stays located to the north east of the city.
Clinton, Iowa is boring but they have lots of restaurants and stores. Dubuque and Davenport would be nicer
You must live in a parrall demension Clinton. Dubuque is a diamond on the prarrie compaired to Clinton. And that's saying something.
Realtor -- I would not trust anyone who can't pronounce his profession correctly.
Reeluhter?
Why does I owe Washington? Wa is the abbreviation for Washington.
You say certain areas of the cities, so why don’t you name the areas. Makes the video useless.
I have been in Oskaloosa for around 4 years and have had no issues. People are nice and I have seen no crime other than a few meth heads
Yeah. And really Meth heads are just a fact of life in Iowa since the late 80's. Kinda like rats in NYC.
Now, do the same information based on the racial make up of the towns.
Thats about right for Iowa,born and raised.
Awesome. Thanks for watching
No. No Dirty Dodge or Clinton so that voids the validity of this list.
You are so wrong about Fort Madison
Oh, yikes. I have to heavily disagree with the info sourced for this video! You mention many communities that have multi-lingual and cultural households, many children considered in “school gradings” are first generation and learning English solely at school. Their comprehension is lower due to newer language rules, hence low school scores. The communities you mention don’t come across as ones you have lived in or visited, I have in most. Don’t speak down on your fellow Iowans, we are all one state. Mention public school funding cuts, and benefits for lower income households cuts. You worked at a jail, ok, this is not research but observed opinion pertaining to Burlington. This is my first time seeing your videos, not a great first impression. Use actual studies, not Google, neighbor.
Thanks for your input and we will take it into consideration for future videos.
The answer is more gun laws, firearms bans and confiscations, and defunding the police… that’ll fix it!
Why is it that more and more gun laws are enacted every year, but the crime rate keeps going up? Maybe it ain’t the guns after all? JS.
Lost Nation, Iowa is extremely boring. Maquoketa is better at least it has grocery stores. 😂. It's boring but at least it has restaurants 😂
#1 Just Iowa