Call it the City of Five Seasons, as Cedar Rapids likes to do itself, a city of about 140,000 on the Cedar River in eastern Iowa. Czech and Slovak roots run deep here. You see them at the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, in Czech Village, and at Houby Days each May.
Day to day it is a calm, affordable Midwestern city with a steady housing market and a population that is roughly flat. Visitors can spend an afternoon with the big Grant Wood collection at the art museum, tour the Brucemore estate, see a Kernels ballgame, or hang out in the New Bohemia District. The tradeoffs are weather and water: the river flooded badly in 2008, a derecho hit in 2020, and winters bring heavy snow and ice. Some streets near downtown and in the southeast call for ordinary night caution, and car break-ins are the usual complaint.
Cities with a similar character, anywhere on the site.
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- Known as
- City of Five Seasons; Corridor city; Grant Wood country
- Founded
- Late 1830s settled; 1849 incorporated
- Languages
- English; Spanish; Czech heritage; Bosnian and Arabic communities
- Airports
- The Eastern Iowa Airport (CID) about 10 minutes southwest of downtown; Moline Quad Cities (MLI) about 90 miles; Des Moines (DSM) about 120 miles; Chicago O'Hare (ORD) about 230 miles
- Tipping
- Restaurants 18-20% for table service; bars $1-2 per drink; taxis and rideshare 10-15%; hotel housekeeping $3-5 per night; bellhops $1-2 per bag; delivery 10-15%
About this data
City population, area, elevation, median home value and rent from Census QuickFacts (V2025) and Wikipedia; metro population from Wikipedia (approximate, vintage not confirmed); cost of living, crime, hotel prices and event months approximate and not verified; visitor site and events URLs could not be load-tested this session
