Retirement living in Iowa is, as could be expected, not about sprawling master planned communities, high-rise waterfront condos or expansive and expensive country club golf resorts. Rather, here is a region where retirees are drawn by traditional family values and a quality of life grounded in traditional, small town sensibilities and attitudes. Such characteristics are to be expected in a State with a strong agrarian economy where, for generations, family life has revolved around farming and small towns.

Today, as many of the baby boomer generation are searching for a slower paced lifestyle and opting for lifestyle change that eliminates the frenzy and congestion of urban living, places like Iowa City, Cedar Falls, Ames, Cedar Rapids and Waterloo are attracting attention from national publications as great places to retire. Notwithstanding Iowa's potential for harsh winters and its above average taxes, factors such as its overall lower cost of living and its reputation for the quality of life enjoyed by its citizens have prompted many experts to rank the State very high on their list of suggested retirement destinations.

A prime example of this trend is Iowa City, which was named by Money Magazine as one of the five best places to retire in 2005. Before that recognition, the New York Times had touted the advantages of this mid-size university town, describing it as "... a city of bursting bookstores, leafy old neighborhoods and friendly shopkeepers, set amid rolling Iowa farmland and where nearly half the 63,000 residents are students."

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