Overall
- Iowa City
- 91.5
Diff +0.2 RPP
Iowa City vs Des Moines-West Des Moines
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Des Moines-West Des Moines is 0.2% more expensive than Iowa City.
0.2% more expensive
Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA is 0.2% more expensive than Iowa City, IA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 91.7 vs 91.5). A $100,000 salary in Iowa City buys about the same as $100,210 in Des Moines-West Des Moines; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 91.5 (Iowa City) vs 91.7 (Des Moines-West Des Moines)
- $100k in Iowa City ≈ $100,210 purchasing power in Des Moines-West Des Moines
- Services drives the gap (+0.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IA:IA 91.5→91.7
PHOTO-FINISH · SAME-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- SAME-STATE Same state · IA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- PP-PAR PP near-par
Instrument codes from this pair's BEA Regional Price Parities (overall · goods · services · rents · national benchmark 100 · purchasing-power conversion), not a ranking or recommendation.
Iowa City
91.5
Cost Index
Des Moines-West Des Moines
91.7
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Iowa City, IA and Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.2 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Des Moines-West Des Moines is 0.9 points higher. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
Both metros remain below the U.S. benchmark of 100. This comparison chooses between two below-average price levels; “more expensive” here does not mean nationally expensive.
For a service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Iowa City to $100,210 in Des Moines-West Des Moines, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Iowa City
- 93.7
Diff 0.0 RPP
Services
- Iowa City
- 83.7
Diff +0.9 RPP
Rents
- Iowa City
- 84.0
Diff +0.8 RPP
| Category | Iowa City | Des Moines-West Des Moines | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 91.5 | 91.7 | +0.2 |
| Goods | 93.7 | 93.7 | 0.0 |
| Services | 83.7 | 84.6 | +0.9 |
| Rents | 84.0 | 84.7 | +0.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Iowa City 91.5
Des Moines-West Des Moines 91.7
Goods
Iowa City 93.7
Des Moines-West Des Moines 93.7
Services
Iowa City 83.7
Des Moines-West Des Moines 84.6
Rents
Iowa City 84.0
Des Moines-West Des Moines 84.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Iowa City and Des Moines-West Des Moines share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.6 to 0.2 RPP points. Des Moines-West Des Moines remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 6.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (5.5 to 0.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Iowa City RPP | Des Moines-West Des Moines RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.7 | 95.1 | 0.6 points Iowa City higher |
| 2012 | 96.5 | 95.5 | 1.0 points Iowa City higher |
| 2016 | 95.4 | 94.6 | 0.8 points Iowa City higher |
| 2020 | 95.6 | 93.8 | 1.8 points Iowa City higher |
| 2024 | 91.5 | 91.7 | 0.2 points Des Moines-West Des Moines higher |
Annual BEA Regional Price Parity releases; a higher index means a higher price level relative to the national average of 100. Selected years shown from the full shared series.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Iowa City would need to be in Des Moines-West Des Moines for the same purchasing power:
| In Iowa City | In Des Moines-West Des Moines | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,105 | +$105 |
| $75,000 | $75,157 | +$157 |
| $100,000 | $100,210 | +$210 |
| $150,000 | $150,315 | +$315 |
$ in Iowa City = in Des Moines-West Des Moines
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (91.5 → 91.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Des Moines-West Des Moines more expensive than Iowa City?
Des Moines-West Des Moines is 0.2% more expensive than Iowa City. The overall cost index is 91.7 vs 91.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Des Moines-West Des Moines equals $100K in Iowa City?
A $100,000 salary in Iowa City has the same purchasing power as $100,210 in Des Moines-West Des Moines. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Iowa City and Des Moines-West Des Moines?
Rents in Iowa City are indexed at 84.0 while Des Moines-West Des Moines is at 84.7 (national average = 100). Des Moines-West Des Moines has higher rents.
Data sources
- BEA Regional Price Parities (RPP), the cost-of-living indices shown on this page
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS), gross-rent observations behind the rents component
- BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI), goods and services price relatives
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), labor-driven services component
- HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR), 40th-percentile rent cross-reference
Every figure on PlainCost is rendered directly from BEA Regional Price Parity source data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, our changelog, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-08-11. Rankings measure the published cost-of-living index only; we don't recommend where to live or rate any metro's quality of life.