City of Cedar Rapids

View or print our national rankings handout

Cedar Rapids ranked the #1 best place in America for Children five years in a row! (2015 - 2019) and remains in the top three for 2020.

Cedar Rapids ranks 14th Best Run City in America in 2020, moving up from 2019 when we were ranked the 15th best-run city in America and 23rd for quality of City services.

Cedar Rapids was ranked one of the best cities to start from scratch because of our great job and social opportunities.

Awarded the 2020 Most Caring City in Iowa. Cedar Rapids has the highest share of individuals working in altruistic fields statewide, including social work, healthcare, counseling, firefighting, teaching, and more. 

Business Insider named Cedar Rapids #11 in the top American cities to live in after the pandemic. 

Cedar Rapids Named #2 Most Recession-Resistant City 2020

Cedar Rapids was named a 'mini megacity to watch' 2020

Cedar Rapids is listed as one of the best places to relocate for people seeking a tight-knit community centered around residents in the 2020 Livability.com article 6 Reasons to Leave the Big City - and Where to Live Instead.

Cedar Rapids ranked #12 Best Cities to Buy a House in America 2019.

Cedar Rapids named #18 in the ranking of Safest Cities in America 2019.

Cedar Rapids ranks #34 of Cities with the Most Affordable Homes in the US for 2020. The study found that 96 percent of homes are affordable for the average household living here.

Cedar Rapids was named #2 on the list of the Ten Best Home Base Cities for Road Trippers.

Named #16 Most Livable Mid-Sized Cities 2019.

Cedar Rapids is #8 in the ranking of Top 10 Cities for Living the American Dream.

Cedar Rapids was named the #4 on the list of Best American Cities to work in Tech 2019.

Cedar Rapids made Money's list of Top 100 Best Place to Live 2019.

Cedar Rapids was ranked #50 Best Places to Live in the US by Livability in 2019.

The City of Cedar Rapids has been recognized with a Walk Friendly Bronze Designation by the Walk Friendly Communities program. Cedar Rapids is the only community in Iowa to have this distinction, and one of only four communities across the country to receive a designation for this round. 

Cedar Rapids earned a Certified 4-STAR Community designation from the STAR Communities organization for comprehensive sustainability efforts.  STAR Communities is the leading, national framework for measuring and designating community performance. Learn more about STAR:

• STAR Report – This STAR-provided document gives a great look into Cedar Rapids’ successes, opportunities, and comparison with other cities.
• STAR Infographic – Offers a glimpse into the City’s STAR success and context for completing the assessment.
• Sustainable City Government Timeline – This document provides a look at past and future sustainability efforts.

Cedar Rapids scored a perfect 100 on the Municipal Equality Index Scorecard.

Cedar Rapids ranked #18 Most Secure Place to Live for mid-sized cities in the U.S. (Farmers Insurance Group) 

Cedar Rapids ranked #12 Best Cities to Buy a House in America by Niche.com

Cedar Rapids was named the Technology Community of the Year (Large) by the Technology Association of Iowa.

Cedar Rapids received a Healthy Hometown Community Award, recognizing accomplishments in health improvement initiatives. 

Cedar Rapids ranked #15 in the nation of the most popular cities in America to relocate to. 

Cedar Rapids was ranked #16 in the nation and was recognized as one of eight medium-sized metro areas with a high density of Inc. 5000 companies. Each year, Inc. Magazine publishes its list of the fastest-growing businesses in America—the Inc. 5000.  To qualify, companies must be independent, privately-owned, located in the United States, and meet certain revenue thresholds. Of qualifying companies, those with the fastest three-year revenue growth rates are selected. Inc. 5000 firms exhibit very high growth compared with their peers, which makes them vital to the economy.

Iowa ranked #1 state in the country by U.S. News and World Report.

Cedar Rapids ranked #2 in the list of Top 10 Places for Teachers by SmartAsset.

Iowa named the best state in the nation for retirement by MoneyRates.com.

Cedar Rapids named All-America City by the National Civic League. The award shines a spotlight on trail-blazing efforts to bring all aspects of a community together to tackle the most pressing local issues. Our application and presentation focused on recovery efforts after the flood of 2008.  Cedar Rapids was also awarded the first-ever social media award for creative use of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to tell the story of Cedar Rapids and encourage community engagement during the competition.

• View a short video about the Cedar Rapids All-America City award
  
• View the Cedar Rapids award-winning presentation

Cedar Rapids was designated the 15th certified Blue Zones Community® in the nation

Cedar Rapids made the top ten 2017 Best Cities for New Grads  rated by GoodCall.com

Cedar Rapids ranked #4 in SmartAsset's Best Cities of 2016

Cedar Rapids named #3 Happiest City in America

Cedar Rapids ranked #6 on the top 10 list of best American cities for technology workers.

Cedar Rapids named #8 on the list of top ten Best Affordable Places to Live, by Livability.com

Cedar Rapids ranked #6 top city for living the American Dream 

Cedar Rapids #88 in Top 100 Best Places to Live  by Livability.com

Cedar Rapids named #7 Best City to Make a Living 

Google named Cedar Rapids the 2015 eCity of Iowa. The award recognizes the strongest online business communities in each state as the digital capitals of America.