Iowa
These are the top Iowa counties with the most bang for your buck, according to new ranking
Cost of living: How to calculate and compare
The cost of living is the amount of money it takes to cover basic expenses.
Just Curious
Have you ever wondered where in Iowa you can get the most bang for your buck?
SmartAsset, a New York-based financial advising company, looked for the most economical or “paycheck friendly” places to live across the United States.
To determine where paychecks stretch the farthest, SmartAsset calculated rankings for counties and county equivalents based on four variables: Semi-monthly paycheck averages, purchasing power, the county unemployment rate and income growth.
Here are the rankings for Iowa.
No. 1: Polk County
What makes Polk County so economical? According to SmartAsset, the county has high purchasing power, which is the value of goods or services $1 can buy, at 1.33, meaning money stretches farther compared to the state average of 1.21. Additionally, the county has an unemployment rate of just 3.4% and an income growth rate of 4.4%.
The county scored 47.35 on Smart Asset’s paycheck-friendly index.
No. 2: Warren County
Warren County, bordering Polk on the south and part of the Des Moines metro, has a population of about 55,000 people, according to the most recent census data.
It has an even lower unemployment rate than Polk at 2.8%, which also is below the state average of 3%, according to SmartAset. Additionally, Warren County boasts a 1.43 purchasing power.
No. 3: Dallas County
Dallas County, Polk’s western neighbor and another Des Moines metro county, rounded out the top three most-paycheck-friendly counties in Iowa.
The county scored 46.50 on SmartAsset’s most paycheck-friendly index, with a 3.4% unemployment rate and purchasing power of 1.49.
Other top10 paycheck-friendly counties in Iowa
4. Woodbury (home of Sioux City).
5. Calhoun.
6. Madison.
7. Sac.
8. Scott (home of Davenport).
9. Emmet.
10. Linn (home of Cedar Rapids).
How does Iowa stack up overall?
Though it ranked at the top for paycheck friendliness in Iowa, Polk County weighed in at 2,961 of 3,244 counties or county equivalents nationwide in the SmartAsset calculations.
The top 10 counties nationally were in Texas, with No. 1-ranked Winkler County and several others, and in North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.
Victoria Reyna-Rodriguez is a general assignment reporter for the Register. Reach her at vreynarodriguez@registermedia.com or follow her on Twitter @VictoriaReynaR.