?WhereToHQ

Ranked · Pick an HQ · Iowa

Best cities to put your HQ in Iowa

Cities of 25,000+ residents, scored with the “Pick an HQ” weighting the live tool uses, heaviest on bachelor's degree or higher, avg. weekly wage, corporate income tax, state & local income tax. Scores are relative to this set; open the tool to change the weights and re-rank.

Re-rank for your priorities
Top 10 · computed ranking

  1. 1.Ames, IA68k residents

    62/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 65.8% · avg. weekly wage: $1,253/wk · corporate income tax: 7.1%

  2. 2.Iowa City, IA76k residents

    60/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 60.5% · avg. weekly wage: $1,279/wk · corporate income tax: 7.1%

  3. 3.Council Bluffs, IA63k residents

    55/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 21.5% · avg. weekly wage: $1,114/wk · corporate income tax: 7.1%

  4. 4.Cedar Rapids, IA137k residents

    53/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 33.1% · avg. weekly wage: $1,355/wk · corporate income tax: 7.1%

  5. 5.West Des Moines, IA71k residents

    53/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 54.9% · avg. weekly wage: $1,445/wk · corporate income tax: 7.1%

  6. 6.Cedar Falls, IA41k residents

    53/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 50.4% · avg. weekly wage: $1,151/wk · corporate income tax: 7.1%

  7. 7.Davenport, IA101k residents

    50/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 29.9% · avg. weekly wage: $1,205/wk · corporate income tax: 7.1%

  8. 8.Ankeny, IA73k residents

    49/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 52.1% · avg. weekly wage: $1,445/wk · corporate income tax: 7.1%

  9. 9.Dubuque, IA59k residents

    49/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 34% · avg. weekly wage: $1,164/wk · corporate income tax: 7.1%

  10. 10.Urbandale, IA47k residents

    49/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 51.2% · avg. weekly wage: $1,445/wk · corporate income tax: 7.1%

Methodology: each city is scored 0–100 by min–max normalizing every weighted facet across this candidate set (direction-aware), identical math to the tool's “Best fit” tab. A different weighting produces a different order, which is the point: this is a starting shortlist, not a verdict.

Questions & answers
Which city is best to put your HQ in Iowa?
Ames, IA ranks first with a fit score of 62/100, followed by Iowa City (60) and Council Bluffs (55), using the "Pick an HQ" weighting.
How is this ranking calculated?
Each of the 10 candidate cities (25,000+ residents) is scored 0 to 100 by min-max normalizing the weighted facets, heaviest on bachelor's degree or higher, avg. weekly wage, corporate income tax, state & local income tax, across this set. Change the weights in the live tool and the order changes with them.