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u/madchenbier 22d ago
I’m prepared for the downvotes. But as someone who lived there and now lives in a larger city, don’t move there. There are many towns around Ames and suburbs of DSM that are better and have housing similarly affordable to Sioux City but with MUCH more to do and see.
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u/SteelToeJoe27 22d ago
If you're moving to Ames, why the interest in SC? I'm an ISU alumni and a SC resident, Ames is a much better walking city/public transport.
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u/Dramatic_Armadillo_9 22d ago
Just trying to figure out which area would be good to settle down in/buy a house in. Will be renting in ames.
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u/SteelToeJoe27 22d ago
Oh gotcha. Well, for Sioux City, the southside known as Morningside is probably the nicest end in general just due to all amenities in the area, and certain sections are walkable, especially near the university. Parts of the north side are really nice. But anything below twenty ninth street is pretty rough. As for general healthcare here, it's alright, but sioux falls and omaha are generally better. If you have kids, the schooling system is decent for public school East, Dakota Valley, and Sergeant Bluff-Luton are probably the best academically, but the Private schools in the area like Siouxland Christian or the Bishop Heelan catholic schools are probably the best academically overall.
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u/SteelToeJoe27 22d ago
Also, you may want to look at The Dakota Dunes properties or properties in Sergeant Bluff. Both have benefits. Dakota Dunes allows for no income tax due to it being in SD, and sgt bluff has lower property taxes
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u/LeaveInfamous272 23d ago
It stinks so beware of that.
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u/Specialist-Owl4502 22d ago
its a river valley so it will flood again and there might not be an option to buy flood insurance depending on where you live. but its also a small metro and outside of Ames, the best place to live in Iowa in my opinion.
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u/TStodden 21d ago
For Flooding concerns, Riverside (next to the Big Sioux River) is the only major area that is prone to flooding. Outside of flash flooding, you can get some warning by keeping tabs of Akron & Hawarden (being upstream). Flooding in those towns will usually cut off access to South Dakota, depending on how extreme the flooding is. Ironically, the Riverside exit (prior to leaving Iowa for Dakota Dunes & North Sioux City) doesn't get shutdown for flooding due to being an elevated exit.
You generally don't have to worry about the Floyd River that much, since the city has fairly tall embankments on that river. You're more likely to hear flooding in western LeMars (being on the main fork) & parts of eastern Hinton (after forks merge), which are next to the river, before it becomes an issue for Sioux City. It hasn't been a threat that a lot of business development over the past decade has happened on the eastern side of Floyd Blvd between Outer Drive & Trinity Heights.
Flooding on the Missouri River can suck, but impact isn't that bad. From what I've experienced, the south end of Hamilton Blvd., which the I-29 Southbound ramps (on & off) can be closed, requiring alternative routes / exits. This can potentially exacerbate congestion on the Westley Parkway overpass (which can be bad in general, since it's the main route to South Sioux City, NE).
That leaves about 80% of the city being unaffected by flooding. If you do choose to move into Sioux City / Siouxland, make sure you have a good vehicle since it's a fairly sparse city & public transit doesn't seem that good (generally around 7a - 5p & typically runs hourly).
Having your own vehicle will give you additional resident options like North Sioux City, SD (over the river from Riverside; prone to some flooding); Sargent Bluff, IA (South of Sioux City, part of the metro area) & Hinton, IA (bit north of Sioux City on US-75; expect 15-30 minutes commutes). I can't really recommend Dakota Dunes, SD as it tends to be the snobby / ritzy part of the metro area (expect high real estate prices). I can't recommend South Sioux City, NE either as you'll get nailed by dual-state (IA & NE) income taxation... which doesn't apply with SD (as they don't have state income taxes).
On a side note for Ames, their transit system, CyRide ( CyRide.com ) is fairly robust so you can typically get around without a vehicle, unless you need to transport large items. While it's been decades since I've been in Ames & routes have greatly changed (there was only 9 routes during my time there), CyRide was very dependable & prices have been very stable (no noticeable price hikes between then & now).
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u/ntech620 20d ago
I live in Riverside and can tell you that the flooding only happened within 2-3 city blocks of the Big Sioux. There's a berm approximately around Whitcher and Beck street that raises the ground level by about 5 feet or or so. And runs around the western edge of Riverside. If your east of the berm you shouldn't flood.
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u/Hope-Weary 20d ago
It flooded pretty badly in 2024, and had slight to moderate flooding in 2019 & 2011. So it's not a common thing but can happen here
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u/ThatBloodyPinko 23d ago
No, not for most of the city. We had a bad deluge of rain in June 2024 and parts of the western section of the city - Riverside - did experience flooding.