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West Des Moines, IA
Best Places to Live Top 100 rank: 71
Population: 52,800
Population, age 50+: 12,915
Population growth, age 50+: 19.11%
FULL LIST
Taxes
  City stats
State income tax rate
(highest bracket)		 8.98%*
State income tax rate
(lowest bracket)		 0.36%*
Retirement tax break from state? No
State property taxes Above average
Sales tax 6.00%
State gas tax
(cents per gallon)		 20.7
Housing
  City stats
Median home price $150,000
Home price gain
(2004-2005)		 -0.70%
Financial
  City stats
Median household income
(per year)		 $60,742
Auto insurance premiums
(Average for the state)		 $1,622
Quality of life
  City stats
Air quality index
(% of days AQI ranked as good)		 73.4%
Personal crime risk
(100 is nat'l average; lower is better)		 22
Property crime risk
(100 is nat'l average; lower is better)		 76
Personal crime incidents
(per 100,000)		 172
Property crime incidents
(per 100,000)		 3,124
Leisure and culture
  City stats
Movie theaters
(within 15 miles)		 14
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 1,133
Bars
(within 15 miles)		 140
Public golf courses
(within 30 miles)		 30
Libraries
(within 15 miles)		 42
Museums (accredited by AAM
within 30 miles)		 1
Colleges, universities and professional schools 5
Ski resorts (within 100 miles) 4
Weather
  City stats
Annual precipitation
(inches)		 34.72
Clear days 105
High temp in July ° F 86.0°
Low temp in Jan ° F 11.7°
Health***
  City stats
Hospitals
(within 30 miles)		 17
Doctors' offices 339
Body mass index
(avg. for residents)		 27
Cancer mortality
(per 100,000, age-adjusted)		 240.0
Cardiac mortality
(per 100,000)		 207.5
Meet the neighbors
  City stats
Median age 33.0
Completed at least some college
(% of residents)		 67.6%
Married 55.9%
Divorced 10.4%
*Income tax notes:
15 states have statutory provision for automatic adjustment of tax brackets, personal exemption or standard deductions to the rate of inflation. Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska and Ohio indexes the personal exemption amounts only.
tax credits.
***County data
Data: OnBoard, FORTUNE. Details
Click map to enlarge
Show: Hospitals | Museums | Wineries | Gardens | Ski resorts | Zoos/aquariums (Map sources)
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On Board LLC
Information powered by OnBoard LLC
Some data may be provided courtesy of its partners.

Additional data and consulting services provided by Bert Sperling's bestplaces.net.
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  Median home
sale price 2005
Reading, PA $42,850
Buffalo, NY $45,000
Niagara Falls, NY $47,000
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Most golf played
  Golf activity index
(100=national avg.,
200=twice national avg.)
Coconut Creek, FL 141
Palm Harbor, FL 139
Palm Desert, CA 134
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Tennis
  Tennis activity index
(100=national avg.,
200=twice national avg.)
Bethesda, MD 163
Greenwich, CT 161
Davis, CA 161
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Most country club members
  Percentage of
households
Palm Desert, CA 2.0
Bethesda, MD 2.0
Greenwich, CT 1.8
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Most educated
  % residents with
graduate degree
Arlington, VA 35.7
Davis, CA 34.6
Brookline, MA 32.5
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Oldest
  Median age
Tamarac, FL 49.69
Lake Havasu City, AZ 46.71
St. Simons Island, GA 46.66
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