CITY PROFILE
Des Moines, IA
“Cheap living, brutal winters, and everyone knows your business.”
By the numbers
| Typical home value | $296K · Zillow, May 2026 (ZHVI) |
|---|---|
| Typical rent | $1,293/mo · Zillow, May 2026 (ZORI) |
| Average temperature | 10.2°C · warmest 24.8°C · coolest -5.6°C · NASA POWER |
| Annual precipitation | 884 mm · NASA POWER |
| Sunshine (solar energy) | 4.09 kWh/m²/day · NASA POWER (annual mean) |
| Metro size rank (US) | #84 · Zillow SizeRank |
Match scores
- Affordable to buy91
- Affordable to rent90
- Climate comfort43
- Plenty of sunshine46
- Big-city amenities45
Scores are 0–100, normalised across the metros we cover, derived from the sourced figures above (higher = better on that factor). A research aid, not a recommendation to move. Job market, safety, and healthcare access need key-gated feeds (BLS, FBI, Census) not yet wired — see the methodology.