St. Louis → Iowa City
Relocation analysis based on 7 federal data sources
Should you move?
Moving from St. Louis to Iowa City is favorable: BEA regional price parity goes from 95.1 to 91.5 (US = 100), and HUD 2-bedroom rent rises by $225/mo.
- -$1,322
- BLS median salary lower in Iowa City
- 463 to 238
- violent crimes per 100K (FBI UCR, state-level)
- 12.8:1 to 14.8:1
- NCES student-teacher ratio
BEA Regional Price Parity, HUD Fair Market Rent, BLS OEWS, FBI UCR, NCES, and DOL. The table below lets you override the composite with your own priorities.
Pros of Moving
- + 4% lower cost of living
- + Lower violent crime rate
- + Fewer environmental violations
Cons of Moving
- - $225/mo more expensive rent (2BR)
- - Higher student-teacher ratios
Purchasing power stays near-even: BEA RPP moves only from 95.1 to 91.5 (ratio 0.96), inside a ±5% band. HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent rises $225/mo ($2,700/yr) from $916 in St. Louis to $1,141 in Iowa City.
The seven-dimension ledger splits (3 destination wins · 3 origin wins); priorities decide this move. Iowa City sits #59 of 387 metros on PlainRelocate livability (top third of the corpus). St. Louis is #182/387 on the same ranking. Composite verdict: Favorable. Override it with the dimension table below.
BLS OEWS median salary moves $1,322 lower ($68,074 → $66,752). Labor-market size: 1,311,920 tracked jobs at origin vs 83,600 at destination.
State retirement friendliness is near-even: Missouri 68 (C, #12/51) vs Iowa 70 (B, #8/51). Full state tax and healthcare sub-scores sit in the retirement desk below.
State retirement friendliness
Primary-state scores from PlainRelocate's retirement registry (tax + healthcare + climate composite). Metro pairs use each metro's primary state abbreviation.
- Income tax
- 82
- Property tax
- 68
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 80
- Income tax
- 85
- Property tax
- 58
- Estate tax
- 50
- Healthcare
- 42
Full retirement ranking · Source composite documented on methodology (Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides + federal healthcare/climate inputs).
Salary Adjustment Calculator
Enter your current salary in St. Louis to see what you'd need to earn in Iowa City to maintain the same purchasing power.
Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS OES, FBI UCR, NCES, DOL, EPA; retirement desk: Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides June 2026