Waterloo-Cedar Falls → Great Falls
Relocation analysis based on 7 federal data sources
Should you move?
Moving from Waterloo-Cedar Falls to Great Falls is unfavorable: BEA regional price parity goes from 87.1 to 96.8 (US = 100), and HUD 2-bedroom rent rises by $233/mo.
- -$778
- BLS median salary lower in Great Falls
- 238 to 426
- violent crimes per 100K (FBI UCR, state-level)
- 14.8:1 to 11.8:1
- NCES student-teacher ratio
- $3,160
- DOL infant care higher / yr in Great Falls
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
- + Better student-teacher ratios
Cons of Moving
- - 10% higher cost of living
- - $233/mo more expensive rent (2BR)
- - Higher violent crime rate
- - More expensive childcare
- - More environmental violations
Purchasing power tightens: BEA RPP rises from 87.1 to 96.8, so the same paycheck buys less in Great Falls (ratio 1.11). HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent rises $233/mo ($2,796/yr) from $1,051 in Waterloo-Cedar Falls to $1,284 in Great Falls.
Waterloo-Cedar Falls still leads on 6 of 7 federal dimensions, the origin keeps the edge. Great Falls sits #315 of 387 metros on PlainRelocate livability (bottom third of the corpus). Waterloo-Cedar Falls is #66/387 on the same ranking. Composite verdict: Unfavorable. Override it with the dimension table below.
BLS OEWS median salary moves $778 lower ($61,344 → $60,566). Labor-market size: 77,420 tracked jobs at origin vs 31,100 at destination.
State retirement friendliness favors staying put: Iowa scores 70 (B, #8/51) vs Montana at 53 (D, #38/51). 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
- 85
- Property tax
- 58
- Estate tax
- 50
- Healthcare
- 42
- Income tax
- 62
- Property tax
- 68
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 82
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 Waterloo-Cedar Falls to see what you'd need to earn in Great Falls to maintain the same purchasing power.
Great Falls metro profile · Livability rankings · Methodology
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