QoL Rank
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Iowa

Iowa has a quality of life score of 70/100 (A, excellent) and ranks #4 of 51 states. Its strongest category is cost of living (87) and its weakest is quality of life (57). Its top-rated larger counties are Plymouth County, Bremer County, Grundy County.

  • Safety: 72
  • Cost of living: 87
  • Education: 64
  • Quality of life: 57

Key figures: violent crime 238.2 per 100,000 people a year (US 345.2); median rent $972 a month; median home value $208,000; median household income $71,662; life expectancy 77.8 years.

Counties in Iowa, best first

  1. Plymouth County 83
  2. Bremer County 82
  3. Grundy County 81
  4. Dallas County 80
  5. Lyon County 79
  6. Sioux County 79
  7. Winneshiek County 77
  8. Warren County 77
  9. Pocahontas County 76
  10. Hancock County 76
  11. Clay County 75
  12. Kossuth County 75
  13. Osceola County 74
  14. Taylor County 74
  15. Ida County 74
  16. Carroll County 73
  17. Winnebago County 72
  18. Boone County 72
  19. Mahaska County 72
  20. Marion County 71
  21. O'Brien County 71
  22. Mills County 71
  23. Story County 71
  24. Delaware County 71
  25. Palo Alto County 71
  26. Shelby County 71
  27. Jasper County 70
  28. Calhoun County 70
  29. Dickinson County 70
  30. Hamilton County 70
  31. Howard County 70
  32. Iowa County 69
  33. Mitchell County 69
  34. Jefferson County 69
  35. Worth County 69
  36. Guthrie County 68
  37. Benton County 68
  38. Humboldt County 68
  39. Franklin County 67
  40. Ringgold County 67
  41. Buchanan County 67
  42. Sac County 67
  43. Cherokee County 66
  44. Butler County 66
  45. Wright County 66
  46. Chickasaw County 66
  47. Hardin County 65
  48. Poweshiek County 64
  49. Linn County 64
  50. Emmet County 64
  51. Adair County 64
  52. Buena Vista County 64
  53. Dubuque County 64
  54. Allamakee County 64
  55. Johnson County 63
  56. Henry County 63
  57. Madison County 63
  58. Washington County 63
  59. Union County 63
  60. Crawford County 63
  61. Harrison County 63
  62. Monroe County 62
  63. Muscatine County 62
  64. Cerro Gordo County 62
  65. Adams County 62
  66. Keokuk County 62
  67. Lucas County 62
  68. Polk County 62
  69. Page County 61
  70. Davis County 61
  71. Clayton County 60
  72. Louisa County 60
  73. Greene County 60
  74. Fayette County 60
  75. Fremont County 59
  76. Jones County 59
  77. Scott County 59
  78. Monona County 59
  79. Cedar County 59
  80. Woodbury County 59
  81. Wayne County 58
  82. Tama County 57
  83. Cass County 57
  84. Marshall County 57
  85. Black Hawk County 56
  86. Clinton County 56
  87. Jackson County 56
  88. Pottawattamie County 55
  89. Van Buren County 55
  90. Floyd County 55
  91. Lee County 54
  92. Montgomery County 53
  93. Appanoose County 53
  94. Decatur County 53
  95. Webster County 52
  96. Audubon County 52
  97. Clarke County 51
  98. Des Moines County 50
  99. Wapello County 48

Your priorities

Choose how much each category counts toward the overall score. The map, rankings and every place’s overall score update as you go.

About the data

Every county is compared with every other US county, and every state with the other states.

Each measure becomes a percentile from 0 to 100, where 100 is always best. For crime, deaths, disaster risk, costs and commutes, the lowest value is best. A category score averages its measures’ percentiles and is then scaled so all four categories have the same spread around 50, so each counts equally. The overall score is the average of the four. 50 is a typical place, and most land between 35 and 65. Your priorities lets you weight the categories differently.

Grades: A 65 and up, B 55–64, C 45–54, D 35–44, F under 35.

Each category lists a county’s own figures next to its state’s and the US figures. Under the state and US columns, Difference shows whether the county is higher or lower, as a share of that figure (hover for the exact gap). Rank shows where it ranks instead: “ranked 75%” means it does better than 75% of the counties in its state, or in the US. A green arrow or dot means the county does better, red means worse.

Compare puts any two places side by side, counties or states, in any state. The better value in each row is highlighted.

A county gets an overall score only if all four categories have data and at least 60% of the measures are present. Small counties often have suppressed data, and without this rule they rank at the top on just a few numbers. Top 10 lists only include counties with at least 10,000 people.

What’s measured

Limitations

Sources