The first question is fairly easy to answer, at least the part about the cost of living. Housing prices in Iowa City are high compared to other areas of Iowa—even larger cities like Cedar Rapids and Davenport. Compared to other large metro areas (e.g. Chicago, Detroit, New York, Denver, LA, etc) it is very inexpensive to live in Iowa City. And not just from a housing perspective either. Food is less expensive. Utilities are (often) less expensive. Taxes are substantially lower. And so on.

As for your second question, that depends. Iowa City has the pleasant, friendly, wholesomeness of the rest of the state of Iowa while still being rather worldly. For that reason, most academics (or even intelligentsia) find IC to be a great place to live.

Currently Iowa City is going through a food renaissance. There are many outstanding locally-owned restaurants that serve diverse cuisine—from Indian to Ethiopian, from tapas to sushi. Add to that the co-operative grocery store, the small ethnic groceries and the farmers markets that run seven months a year and you start to get a feel for Iowa City.

Further, IC is packed with cultural events. The UI’s Hancher Auditorium brings in national touring productions and world-renowned performers (Sauvion Glover, Yo-Yo Ma, Twyla Tharp, Josh Redman, The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, etc). Prairie Lights, an independent bookseller downtown, brings back numerous authors for readings, alums from the world-famous writers workshop and non-alums alike. The Lecture Committee also brings in some pretty heavyweight guest lecturers.

In short, for an academic, I think Iowa City would probably be a pretty great place to live. But, again, it depends on your taste. If you have other questions please feel free to drop me an e-mail at jeffrey[dot]utech[at]gmail[dot]com. Good luck!

I live in Cedar Rapids (30-40 mins north of Iowa City) and work in Iowa City. Having grown up in Southern California Iowa was a rather unexpected turn of events for me, but I have been very happy here. I do miss the mountains and the ocean, but for me Iowa has turned out to be a great place to live and work. Cedar Rapids is very family oriented which, being the father of three young children, I really appreciate. There isn’t much (besides geography) that I’d want outside of CR or Iowa City and I love being able get from one end of town to another in 20 minutes. In CA it was common to spend too much of my life driving.

I’d be happy to field other questions as you have them.