?WhereToHQ

Ranked · Open a storefront · Iowa

Best cities to open a storefront in Iowa

Cities of 25,000+ residents, scored with the “Open a storefront” weighting the live tool uses, heaviest on median household income, businesses per 1k residents, avg. weekly wage, crime index. Scores are relative to this set; open the tool to change the weights and re-rank.

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Top 10 · computed ranking

  1. 1.Marshalltown, IA28k residents

    76/100

    median household income: $69,068 · avg. weekly wage: $1,124/wk · sales tax: 6.9%

  2. 2.Ottumwa, IA25k residents

    76/100

    median household income: $61,103 · avg. weekly wage: $1,036/wk · sales tax: 6.9%

  3. 3.Sioux City, IA86k residents

    70/100

    median household income: $68,906 · avg. weekly wage: $1,081/wk · sales tax: 6.9%

  4. 4.Council Bluffs, IA63k residents

    68/100

    median household income: $64,578 · avg. weekly wage: $1,114/wk · sales tax: 6.9%

  5. 5.Cedar Falls, IA41k residents

    68/100

    median household income: $76,987 · avg. weekly wage: $1,151/wk · sales tax: 6.9%

  6. 6.Bettendorf, IA40k residents

    68/100

    median household income: $100,495 · avg. weekly wage: $1,205/wk · sales tax: 6.9%

  7. 7.Waterloo, IA67k residents

    64/100

    median household income: $57,480 · avg. weekly wage: $1,151/wk · sales tax: 6.9%

  8. 8.Marion, IA42k residents

    61/100

    median household income: $86,743 · avg. weekly wage: $1,355/wk · sales tax: 6.9%

  9. 9.Ames, IA68k residents

    59/100

    median household income: $60,991 · avg. weekly wage: $1,253/wk · sales tax: 6.9%

  10. 10.Urbandale, IA47k residents

    59/100

    median household income: $112,795 · avg. weekly wage: $1,445/wk · sales tax: 6.9%

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 open a storefront in Iowa?
Marshalltown, IA ranks first with a fit score of 76/100, followed by Ottumwa (76) and Sioux City (70), using the "Open a storefront" 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 median household income, businesses per 1k residents, avg. weekly wage, crime index, across this set. Change the weights in the live tool and the order changes with them.