Everything else equal, we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.
I’d much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I’d rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.
And while every neighbhorhood in Des Moines might be more expensive than living in rural Iowa, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.
What exactly are those Des Moines neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further — you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?
Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and determine which neighborhoods in Des Moines are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.
What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Des Moines for 2024? According to the most recent census data, Garton West looks to be the cheapest Des Moines neighborhood to live in.
At this point, we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for — some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in Des Moines. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Des Moines that deserve a little bragging rights, or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in Des Moines.
For more Iowa reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Iowa
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Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Des Moines For 2024
/10
Population: 57
Cost Of Living Index: 80 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.4 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.014 (13th cheapest)
More on Garton West: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 1,750
Cost Of Living Index: 80 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.9 (7th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (20th cheapest)
More on Mckinley School: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 421
Cost Of Living Index: 79 (4th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.9 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (3cheapest)
More on Capitol View South: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 2,996
Cost Of Living Index: 80 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.4 (25th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.012 (8th cheapest)
More on Douglas Acres: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 235
Cost Of Living Index: 90 (42nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.8 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.011 (4th cheapest)
More on Valley High Manor: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 4,619
Cost Of Living Index: 83 (22nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.0 (9th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (19th cheapest)
More on Fairmont Park: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 322
Cost Of Living Index: 87 (34th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.8 (4th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.014 (14th cheapest)
More on Laurel Hill: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 858
Cost Of Living Index: 76 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.9 (6th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.024 (45th cheapest)
More on New Vision: Data | Real Estate
/10
Population: 4,111
Cost Of Living Index: 81 (12th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.1 (14th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (30th cheapest)
More on Oak Park: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 1,488
Cost Of Living Index: 80 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.0 (8th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.023 (43rd cheapest)
More on Capitol East: Data | Real Estate
Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Des Moines Hoods In 2024
To rank the cheapest places to live in Des Moines, we had to determine what criteria define “cheap” and then apply Saturday Night Science.
Using Census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:
- Overall Cost Of Living
- Rent To Income Ratio
- Median Home Value To Income Ratio
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 51 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.
And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index, the “Cheapest City Neighborhood In Des Moines.” We’re lookin’ at you, Garton West.
We updated this article for 2024. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Des Moines. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from cheapest to most expensive.
Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live In Des Moines
If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Des Moines where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.
The most affordable neighborhoods in Des Moines are Garton West, McKinley School, Capitol View South, Douglas Acres, Valley High Manor, Fairmont Park, Laurel Hill, New Vision, Oak Park, and Capitol East.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Des Moines aren’t all cheap. Sherman Hill takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Des Moines.
The most expensive neighborhoods in Des Moines are Sherman Hill, Arbor Peaks, Jordan Park, Downtown Des Moines, and Greenwood.
We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.
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