⭐️ Total score | 3.44/5 (Rank #204) |
❤️ Liked by members | 👍100% liked it 👎0% disliked it |
👍 Quality of life score | Good |
👶 Family score | Good |
🎒 Community score | Okay |
💵 Cost | 🧐 Pricey: $3,830 / mo |
📡 Internet | 🚀 Super fast: 109Mbps (avg) |
😝 Fun | Okay |
⛅️ Temperature (now) | 🥵 Hot: 28°C82°F (feels 32°C90°F) |
💦 Humidity (now) | 🥵 Sweaty: 79% |
💨 Air quality (annual) | 🌱 Great: 31 US AQI |
👌 Safety | Good |
🤮 Food safety* | Great |
👮♀️ Lack of crime* | Good |
🤝 Lack of racism* | Good |
🎓 Education level* | High |
⚡️ Power grid | Great |
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change | Good |
💰 Income level* | Very high: $4,817 / mo |
🙊 English speaking* | Great |
🚶 Walkability | Great |
🚦 Traffic safety* | Okay |
✈️ Airline scores* | Okay |
🧳 Lost luggage* | Bad |
🏥 Hospitals | Great |
😄 Happiness* | Bad |
🍸 Nightlife | Okay |
📶 Free WiFi in city | Okay |
🖥 Places to work from | Okay |
❄️ A/C or heating | Great |
😁 Friendly to foreigners | Great |
🗯 Freedom of speech* | Good |
👩 Female friendly | Good |
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly | Great |
🎅 Startup Score | Okay |
🌍 Continent | North America |
🚩 Country | United States |
🗓️ Average trip length | 3 days |
📡 Internet speed (avg) | 109 Mbps |
⛅️ Weather (now) | ☀️ 28°C 82°F + 🥵 Sweaty (79%) = feels 32°C 90°F |
💨 Air quality (annual avg) | 👍 32 US AQI |
🔌 Power | 115V60Hz |
🧔 Best neighborhood to stay | Downtown Des Moines |
🚀 Upcoming neighborhood | Indianola Hills |
🚕 Best taxi app* | |
🚑 Travel medical insurance | ![]() |
💸 Tipping | Yes, 15% |
💳 Cashless | 💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere |
💻 Best coworking space | Gravitate |
☕️ Best coffee place | Mars Cafe |
☕️ Best alt. coffee place | Java Joes Coffeehouse |
🏪 Best 24/7 coffee place | Dunkin Donuts |
🚰 Tap water | 👌 Yes, safe to drink |
♻️ Return rate | 6% of visitors return |
👨👩👧👦 Population | 220,000 people |
👨👩👧👦 GDP per capita* | $57,808 / year |
👫 Gender ratio (population) | 👨 47% 👱♀️ 53% |
👫 Gender ratio (young adults) | 👨 52% 👱♀️ 48% |
👫 Gender ratio (nomads) | 👨 83% 👱♀️ 17% |
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed | Yes |
⛪️ Religious government | Non-religious |
💻 Online electronics shop | Amazon |
🏠 Apartment listings | Craigslist |
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier | United |
✈️ Best int'l air carrier | United |
🏥 Best hospital | Iowa Lutheran Hospital |
💵 Cost of living for nomad | $3,830 / month |
💵 Cost of living for expat | $2,305 / month |
💵 Cost of living for family | $4,951 / month |
💵 Cost of living for local | $1,415 / month |
🏨 Hotel (median price) | $2,605 / month |
🏡 Airbnb (median price) | $2,500 / month |
🏠 1br studio rent in center | $1,017 / month |
🏨 Hotel (median price) | $122 / night |
🏠 Airbnb (median price) | $82 / night |
🏢 Coworking hot desk | $243 / month |
🍛 Dinner | $15 |
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L) | $2 |
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L) | $5 |
☕️ Coffee in cafe | $4 |
👩🏫 International school | $8,000 / year |
📱 Mobile data (~10GB) | $22 / month |
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi) | $4 / trip |
💰 Estimated tax on $50,000 | $12,352 |
💰 Estimated tax on $100,000 | $30,278 |
💰 Estimated tax on $250,000 | $71,127 |
✅ Pretty safe
✅ Fast internet
✅ Warm now
✅ Good air quality on average
✅ Nomad List members liked going here a lot
✅ Spacious and not crowded
✅ Very easy to do business
✅ High quality of education
✅ Great hospitals
✅ Roads are very safe
✅ Great freedom of speech
✅ Democratic
✅ Everyone speaks English
✅ Very safe for women
✅ Family friendly
✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+
✅ Not many people smoke tobacco
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
Feels | 27-3° freezing | 16-9° freezing | 489° cold | 5513° cool | 6418° cool | 8228° warm | 8228° warm | 8127° warm | 7725° warm | 7021° mild | 457° cold | 362° cold |
Real | 31-1° freezing | 23-5° freezing | 5111° cool | 5614° cool | 6418° cool | 8429° very warm | 8329° very warm | 8228° very warm | 7625° warm | 6820° mild | 489° cold | 405° very cold |
Humidity | nice 41% | nice 36% | nice 33% | too dry 27% | nice 31% | nice 33% | nice 36% | nice 36% | nice 32% | nice 37% | too dry 30% | nice 31% |
Most common | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☔️ Rain | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear |
Rain | dry 38mm | dry 38mm | rainy 69mm | dry 35mm | rainy 135mm | rainy 79mm | rainy 107mm | rainy 88mm | dry 46mm | rainy 72mm | rainy 57mm | dry 45mm |
Cloud | pockets 39% | pockets 40% | pockets 34% | pockets 30% | pockets 47% | pockets 25% | pockets 25% | pockets 21% | pockets 13% | pockets 36% | pockets 28% | pockets 28% |
Air quality | clean 33 US AQI | clean 39 US AQI | clean 31 US AQI | clean 31 US AQI | clean 32 US AQI | clean 33 US AQI | clean 36 US AQI | clean 33 US AQI | clean 31 US AQI | clean 22 US AQI | clean 30 US AQI | clean 34 US AQI |
Sun | safe 1 UVI | safe 2 UVI | seek shade 4 UVI | seek shade 5 UVI | seek shade 5 UVI | avoid sun 7 UVI | avoid sun 8 UVI | avoid sun 8 UVI | avoid sun 6 UVI | seek shade 4 UVI | safe 2 UVI | safe 2 UVI |
Remote workers | 229 people | 200 people | 333 people | 267 people | 250 people | 450 people | 267 people | 257 people | 257 people | 325 people | 350 people | 200 people |
If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomad List's Climate Finder
Based on Des Moines's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:
I've been living in the Twin Cities (Saint Paul to be exact but I'm often in Mpls too) for about 8 months now. It really is a hidden gem in North America. Possibly one of the last major metropolitan areas in the US where housing is still relatively affordable if you have a good job. Lots of music venues and outdoorsy culture. It's colder than you can even imagine in the winter but that's a fun experience. Shoulder seasons are short, and summer is hot and muggy. Good food.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 25° 77° 25° 78°✈️30min$4,557 / mo93Mbps×I grew up in Chicago and still return fairly often. I love the character of the different neighborhoods, the variety of architectural styles, and as others have said, the food scene is incredible. It's easy to make friends in the suburbs, perhaps not so much in the city itself. I have never witnessed racial tension here, and have been pleasantly surprised by the interracial friendliness I have observed. There are a wonderful selection of forests and parks just about everywhere, and the museu
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 23° 73° 23° 74°AQI 25✈️40min$4,908 / mo81Mbps×New York is cool. I’ve visited multiple times to see my family throughout my life, and recently came back from my first post-COVID trip there. Yes, it’s very expensive — but there is no city on earth that’s more captivating in my opinion. I used to think that New Yorkers were smug by claiming that NYC was better than everywhere else, but now I totally get it lol. My personal favourite neighbourhood is the Upper East Side, which is where you’ll find the coveted Museum Mile. But I also
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 25° 77° 25° 78°✈️2h$6,831 / mo56Mbps×I just came back after 12 years, last time I lived in SF for 3 months in 2012. Back then it was a walkable and clean and fun, pretty safe city. The only place back then that you'd avoid was the Tenderloin. There was homeless but they actually weren't aggressive. There wasn't much robberies either. San Francisco in 2024 is very different, as you've probably seen from social media. The homeless problem has grown a lot since then, and they're not just clustered in the Tenderloin, they're all over
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 20° 68° 19° 66°✈️3h$6,318 / mo105Mbps×Overall, a pretty great place. Good restaurants and many breweries. Solid entertainment. It has all four seasons and lots of sunshine. Some homelessness issues downtown, like most cities.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 32° 90° 33° 91°🥵✈️1h$4,356 / mo74Mbps×I don't understand why London has so high safety rating. Your phone could be stolen and your bicycle WILL be stolen here (or a part of it). I live here 8.5 years and I experienced the above multiple times. Police seems only cares about crime against person by whatever reason. Insure everything expensive that you own. I would also add that antisocial behaviour is quite common here and teenagers are heavily involved in crimes as police don't do anything with them because of their age. Basically th
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 21° 70° 21° 69°AQI 25✈️9h$5,697 / mo29Mbps×Was great when I visited in 2019, unfortunately upon returning, things have gotten worse. Locals are tired of gentrification and over tourism, and the vibe is not the same. It has attracted a lot of the wrong type of foreigners.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety very badTap to open🌧 Feels 22° 72° 22° 72°AQI 80😷✈️6h$1,672 / mo45Mbps×Unfortunately just a hard place to Nomad. Maybe ~10 years ago. Needless to say; accommodation is super high and you don't get much. Lots of driving culture. Surprisingly few gyms; most of which expensive and/or super crowded. Not very easy to meet people per sprawl/driving culture. The locals keep pretty insulated amongst each other. WiFi/Internet great. Food OK if you like Mexican and/or tex-mex. Beaches are great and surfing is pretty good, but it gets very crowded in desirable months with lot
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked very bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 25° 77° 25° 78°✈️3h$5,534 / mo105Mbps×I've been living in the Twin Cities (Saint Paul to be exact but I'm often in Mpls too) for about 8 months now. It really is a hidden gem in North America. Possibly one of the last major metropolitan areas in the US where housing is still relatively affordable if you have a good job. Lots of music venues and outdoorsy culture. It's colder than you can even imagine in the winter but that's a fun experience. Shoulder seasons are short, and summer is hot and muggy. Good food.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 25° 77° 25° 78°✈️30min$4,557 / mo🌇 Also went here13 people×I grew up in Chicago and still return fairly often. I love the character of the different neighborhoods, the variety of architectural styles, and as others have said, the food scene is incredible. It's easy to make friends in the suburbs, perhaps not so much in the city itself. I have never witnessed racial tension here, and have been pleasantly surprised by the interracial friendliness I have observed. There are a wonderful selection of forests and parks just about everywhere, and the museu
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 23° 73° 23° 74°AQI 25✈️40min$4,908 / mo🌇 Also went here17 people×Overall, a pretty great place. Good restaurants and many breweries. Solid entertainment. It has all four seasons and lots of sunshine. Some homelessness issues downtown, like most cities.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 32° 90° 33° 91°🥵✈️1h$4,356 / mo🌇 Also went here19 people×New York is cool. I’ve visited multiple times to see my family throughout my life, and recently came back from my first post-COVID trip there. Yes, it’s very expensive — but there is no city on earth that’s more captivating in my opinion. I used to think that New Yorkers were smug by claiming that NYC was better than everywhere else, but now I totally get it lol. My personal favourite neighbourhood is the Upper East Side, which is where you’ll find the coveted Museum Mile. But I also
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 25° 77° 25° 78°✈️2h$6,831 / mo🌇 Also went here18 people×Dirty. Hospital system is atrocious. Its like having a bunch of shiny glossy hospitals with poorly educated doctors everywhere. Most people end up going to 'Quickcare ER' places that are plastered all over town. Lets put it this way... The school system fast tracks people to become teachers in almost no time at all & they still quit in droves all the time because kids are out of control. Las Vegas desperately tries to buy status & sophistication but its always cartoony and not organic. Its a tow
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked very bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 43° 109° 42° 107°🥵✈️3h$4,095 / mo🌇 Also went here14 people×It's obscenely expensive for low quality service with kinda mean people. Not nice. The regulations and taxes here are insane too. You pay a neighbourhood tax, district tax, city tax, county tax and then state tax on every payment you make! The traffic here is insane too. And just getting from place to place is difficult because city is so gigantic. We talked to our hotel's manager here and he struggles a lot with the insane amount of rules California tells him to follow. It makes it hard to st
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 32° 90° 29° 83°AQI 60😷✈️3h$5,280 / mo🌇 Also went here16 people×Seattle is a great city, especially if you like nature, there are plenty of outdoor activities to do all year round. People are generally open-minded and friendly. The cost of living is high but it allows you to be able to afford other places on earth easily if you can find a job here. You can also find plenty of good restaurants and arts around in the city. I recommend to stay at least 3-6 months to get the feel of living a PNW life.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 21° 70° 21° 69°✈️3h$6,291 / mo🌇 Also went here11 people×I just came back after 12 years, last time I lived in SF for 3 months in 2012. Back then it was a walkable and clean and fun, pretty safe city. The only place back then that you'd avoid was the Tenderloin. There was homeless but they actually weren't aggressive. There wasn't much robberies either. San Francisco in 2024 is very different, as you've probably seen from social media. The homeless problem has grown a lot since then, and they're not just clustered in the Tenderloin, they're all over
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 20° 68° 19° 66°✈️3h$6,318 / mo🌇 Also went here16 people×Love it! Don't expect them to speak English, that is NOT their native language. If you're going to go, learn some Spanish and respect their culture. No gentrification in Mexico, please.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked good👮 Safety badTap to open🌧 Feels 22° 72° 22° 71°✈️3h$1,950 / mo🌇 Also went here15 people×Was great when I visited in 2019, unfortunately upon returning, things have gotten worse. Locals are tired of gentrification and over tourism, and the vibe is not the same. It has attracted a lot of the wrong type of foreigners.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety very badTap to open🌧 Feels 22° 72° 22° 72°AQI 80😷✈️6h$1,672 / mo🌇 Also went here13 people×I don't understand why London has so high safety rating. Your phone could be stolen and your bicycle WILL be stolen here (or a part of it). I live here 8.5 years and I experienced the above multiple times. Police seems only cares about crime against person by whatever reason. Insure everything expensive that you own. I would also add that antisocial behaviour is quite common here and teenagers are heavily involved in crimes as police don't do anything with them because of their age. Basically th
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 21° 70° 21° 69°AQI 25✈️9h$5,697 / mo🌇 Also went here15 people×I recently visited Amsterdam for the third time (and the first time since 2018). I personally think it's a little overrated, but a cool place to visit nonetheless. The architecture is beautiful, and there are lots of good places to eat. I don't like the main area of the canals in the city centre; it smells of weed and is often packed. However, the outer edges - such as the Jordaan district - are less busy and more interesting in my opinion. One thing that surprised me is how much trash was o
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 21° 70° 20° 67°AQI 27✈️9h$5,666 / mo🌇 Also went here12 people×I have heard of a friend of a friend that in France it is important to bring sandpaper and to have suitable medical insurance which covers eye reconstruction surgery. “Well worth a visit, would recommend”.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked good👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 22° 72° 22° 72°AQI 55😷✈️9h$5,439 / mo🌇 Also went here11 people×Difficult to find places to work in the evenings if you work for a western company. Hard to find a good quality restaurant, Google reviews are very inflated here.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 30° 86° 29° 85°AQI 34✈️10h$4,598 / mo🌇 Also went here11 people×(It seems my paragraph formatting is being removed due to the length of my comment, so sorry you'll have to deal with the wall of text if you want to read this, haha) Have been in Bangkok for the past 6 months. I've been nomadic for the past 4 years across Europe & the US, and as someone who is used to walking everywhere and greenery, I found it quite difficult living here. I spent my first 5 months living in Airbnbs, which were fine for around $6-800/m, and for the last month decided to live in
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 31° 88° 27° 81°🥵AQI 60😷✈️18h$1,358 / mo🌇 Also went here11 people×Can't login? See the FAQ
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