Bloomington vs Iowa City
Metro-area medians — Bloomington, IL Metro Area vs Iowa City, IA Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Bloomington comes out ahead, winning 4 of the 7 clearly-decided measures.
Bloomington and Iowa City cost about the same to live in, but Bloomington households earn about 8% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Bloomington.
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, Iowa City leaves you about $2,307/yr better off after tax and local prices.
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.
Choose Bloomington for
- + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
- + Median household income
- + Median rent
- + Median home value
Choose Iowa City for
- + Unemployment
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
- + Air quality (median AQI)
Bloomington vs Iowa City — frequently asked
- Is Bloomington cheaper than Iowa City?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Bloomington and Iowa City metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, Bloomington or Iowa City?
- Bloomington has the higher median household income — $81,240 versus $75,225 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 8% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Bloomington or Iowa City?
- A paycheck stretches further in Bloomington. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $86,853 there versus $82,205 in Iowa City.
- Which has cheaper rent, Bloomington or Iowa City?
- Bloomington has cheaper rent — a median of $1,034/mo versus $1,099/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).