Des Moines, IA
Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Des Moines ranks 34th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 77th for income. A household earns $85,446 a year while median rent runs $1,178/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 8% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is affordability (34th of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (141st). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 128th and home prices 130th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Des Moines, your take-home is worth about $63,754 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 77th of 300↑20.1%$85,446
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 82nd of 30092 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $93,179
- Per-capita income
- $46,079
- Full-time pay
- $50,860
Housing
- Median rent
- 128th of 300↑25.3%$1,178/mo
- Home value
- 130th of 300↑43.5%$288,400
- Property tax
- $4,130/yr · 1.4%
- Sales tax
- 6.94%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 72nd of 3003.6%
- Bachelor's+
- 61st of 30041.6%
- Avg commute
- 51st of 30021.4 min
People
- Population
- 753,913
- Population change
- +7.8%
- Median age
- 36.9 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 8.9%
- Broadband
- 93%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 141st of 30045
- Natural-hazard loss
- 49th of 300$9/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 64th of 30016.1%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 7.1%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Affordability
- + Cost of living
- + Household income
- + Job market
- + Education
- + Commute
- + Hazard safety
- + Health
Watch-outs
- —
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — des moines intl ap.
What jobs pay in Des Moines
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $265,200
- IT managers
- $164,840
- Financial managers
- $154,140
- Pharmacists
- $141,110
- Lawyers
- $134,560
- Software developers
- $126,460
- General & operations managers
- $98,780
- Civil engineers
- $97,330
- Police officers
- $81,810
- Accountants & auditors
- $79,290
- Registered nurses
- $78,630
- Plumbers
- $75,040
- Electricians
- $62,840
- Secondary school teachers
- $62,480
- Web developers
- $61,960
- Elementary school teachers
- $61,650
- Carpenters
- $61,360
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $60,720
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $50,780
- Construction laborers
- $49,980
- Customer service reps
- $48,880
- Janitors
- $35,000
- Retail salespersons
- $33,430
- Cashiers
- $29,640
- Waiters & waitresses
- $20,410
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Des Moines metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Iowa are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Illinois1,366
- Minnesota1,361
- Colorado1,260
- Nebraska1,136
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Des Moines
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Des Moines metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Des Moines metro?
- Median gross rent across the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA Metro Area is $1,178 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Des Moines.
- What is the median household income in the Des Moines metro?
- A typical household in the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA Metro Area earns $85,446 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Des Moines expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA Metro Area runs about 8% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Des Moines metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $93,179 (versus its face value of $85,446). CityLedger rates the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Des Moines metro?
- The median home value across the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA Metro Area is $288,400 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Des Moines metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA Metro Area is 3.6% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).