Le Mars living?

It's funny how Iowans always claim Iowa is the best place to live yet they consider every city/town that they don't live in to be a dump.
Le Mars is a dump
Council Bluffs is a dump
Sioux City is a dump
Storm Lake is a dump
The entire southeast quadrant of the state is a dump
The entire southern tier of Iowa counties are a dump

I'm sure I'm missing a few.


denison is nice
 
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I grew up there many moons ago. As a kid it was pretty great, though I was always jealous of my cousins in bigger metros. As young adults, it might be a challenge socially. In small towns so much of the social activity is built around whatever school your kids go to from band concerts to sporting events, etc. I know similarly in bigger communities parents make friends with the parents of other kids, but there's a real attachment to the schools. You can build a white collar career there now much more easily than when I left in the 90s (Wells for one has really professionalised a lot the last couple decades), but would probably suggest staying in a larger metro for the career advancement and social benefits, and then if/when you decide kids are in your future, you can do worse than a smaller community. It's been said multiple times, but I wouldn't have had to chance to play/letter in multiple sports, band, and lots of other extra-curriculars at bigger schools. And those are the memories that stick out the most to me. Plus, my parents were friends with several of my teachers so they weren't afraid to put a foot in my a$$ if I got out of line :) Good luck!
YES, I have nieces and nephews all over the country. From LA, NYC to a town of 300 in eastern Iowa. All have one common complaint. "I'm bored, there's nothing to do here." You make your own pleasure, where ever you live.
 
I think the only people that claim Iowa as the best place to live are people that think living in a town with a population of 10,000 or less is awesome.

Before I get spammed with dumbs, I think Iowa is a fine place to live, but certainly not the best.
 
I think the only people that claim Iowa as the best place to live are people that think living in a town with a population of 10,000 or less is awesome.

Before I get spammed with dumbs, I think Iowa is a fine place to live, but certainly not the best.
I think very few people actually claim Iowa is the BEST place to live, do they? I think for most it's somewhere between barely tolerable to pretty good, but are primarily driven to be close to family.
 
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YES, I have nieces and nephews all over the country. From LA, NYC to a town of 300 in eastern Iowa. All have one common complaint. "I'm bored, there's nothing to do here." You make your own pleasure, where ever you live.


Very true. I also have nieces in Dallas who are always bored. Nothing to do of course.
 
This seems fine. To be consistent, we'll call it a dump. It's safer.
It's really a shame that we do not have an ongoing active megathread that stays bumped on which Iowa towns are the dumpiest and why. Those are the best. That and ISU-related urban exploration.

I feel like the hype of this football season and conference realignment have really sidetracked CF from it's core purpose, which is to make sure every thread ends up in a debate about Fred and/or dumpy Iowa towns.
 
I think very few people actually claim Iowa is the BEST place to live, do they? I think for most it's somewhere between barely tolerable to pretty good, but are primarily driven to be close to family.

I would love to live on a tropical Island or in a remote Colorado mountain cabin. But, can't. For a lot of reasons.

Iowa isn't perfect, but it's pretty nice. Lived in a lot of places for comparison.

I'm sure many Iowas really do believe it's the best place. Maybe it is for them. Everybody's different. You couldn't pay me to live in a large city or in a freaking suburb. No thanks. Yet some on here think that's the only option.
 
It's really a shame that we do not have an ongoing active megathread that stays bumped on which Iowa towns are the dumpiest and why. Those are the best. That and ISU-related urban exploration.

I feel like the hype of this football season and conference realignment have really sidetracked CF from it's core purpose, which is to make sure every thread ends up in a debate about Fred and/or dumpy Iowa towns.

"Fred's favorite dumpy Iowa towns." It's gold, Jerry. It writes itself.
 
I live in Sioux City, good place to raise a family. Safe, affordable, etc. Been here most of my life with brief stints in Ames and Wisconsin. however, I don’t want to live here after the kids go off to college. Need something different. The thought of retiring here makes my brain explode.
 
Yeah, the tiniest towns are slipping, but if you haven’t traveled the rural back roads of the rest of America, you would be shocked at how much worse it is.

I grew up in NC IA outside of a town that had 147 people in the 1990 census. I think it was 120 in 2020. There are less run down homes than when I was a kid, but more empty lots getting mowed. There’s a new bar/grill that does well with bicyclists coming through on a rail trail in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter.

It’s a decline in population, but actually seems like a better place to live. It will die off someday, but I wouldn’t bet I live to see it.

In Missouri it would be a setting for a horror film.

Rural Mississippi and Alabama were eye opening.
 
YES, I have nieces and nephews all over the country. From LA, NYC to a town of 300 in eastern Iowa. All have one common complaint. "I'm bored, there's nothing to do here." You make your own pleasure, where ever you live.

If you are a kid and live in suburban hell of subdivisions and strip malls, you're very reliant on someone with a car to tote you around to everything. Growing up in these towns, everything was easily reachable on a bike. Summers, I'd leave in the morning to go meet up with friends and come back around dinner time, and my mom didn't need to worry about driving me around (or about whether I was in danger) ...
 
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