Kate Padilla

My husband and I are nearing our 10-year anniversary of living in Spencer, Iowa. Let me tell you why this is significant.

At the time we moved here (from Austin, Texas in February of 2012), we had moved at least every year for the last five years, both together and as individuals. I had lived in Michigan, he in California. We had moved every year while in college in Sioux Center, Iowa.

We moved to Austin three weeks after our wedding and lived in two different apartments in our year and a half there. We were used to it.

A part of us liked packing everything up and finding someplace new. It was an adventure. And, being in our early-20s, we wanted that kind of a life.

But we also knew that it was important to find a place, to settle down and find somewhere to build a life together. We needed to put down roots.

And so, when we came to Spencer, we decided to give it ten years. After then, if we really wanted to, we could find some place new. But until then, this would be our home.

Luckily for us, we finalized our decision even before our ten years were up. After what we had been able to build in terms of a life here, but there was no way we could reasonably give that up in favor of a new location.

Is remote work here to stay?

Back in 2012, not even a decade ago, the work landscape looked very different than it does now. In large part due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year, millions of Americans began working remotely, and many companies found the result to be more beneficial.

According to a survey by Gartner, a research and advisory firm, 80% of company leaders planned to allow remote working at least part time after the pandemic ended. It’s estimated that, even into this year, 1 in 4 Americans will continue to work from home.

Other research found:

• People actually like working remotely. They find themselves more productive and more able to achieve a “work-life balance.”
• People who work from home often make more money doing so.
• Fewer people commuting to and from the office every day has a beneficial impact on the environment.

One way or another, we can safely assume that remote working, at least in some capacity, isn’t going away.

Why people should move to the Midwest

As it turns out, being able to work from home really means that you’re able to work from anywhere (something I’ve found out personally; a topic for another day).

Maybe you moved to your current city because you got a job. You’re not alone — relocation for work is the most common reason for moving.

But when your job is no longer tied to your location, you have many more options.

And why should the Midwest be among them? A few reasons.

Affordable housing

Obviously. This is a real estate blog — you didn’t think I wasn’t going to mention housing prices, did you? But it’s true — the median home value was $295,300 nationwide in June 2020. The median home value in the Midwest? $190,650.

It’s a good place to start a career

While our housing may be 65% of the national average, our wages are not necessarily lower. In 2019, the median household income across the U.S. was $86,011. In the Midwest, it was $88,219.

We get all four seasons

Y’all, I didn’t realize how much I’d notice this moving from Texas. I still get a little overwhelmed with how green everything is in the summer.

Similarly, we can enjoy the first bloom of the flowers in the spring, the falling of leaves in the autumn, and sparkle of freshly fallen snow in the winter.

I found myself enjoying the seasons more this past year, once given the chance to slow down a bit. And I realized that, like the climate, the natural way of life in the Midwest operates rather seasonally as well. Perhaps it’s due to the prevalence of agriculture, perhaps it’s something else.

There are certainly seasons that are busier — people are more productive; there’s a buzz of energy in the air. And there are seasons that are slower. The key is to find value in each one.

We may not have tall mountain peaks in the distance, or the briny smell of the sea in the air (although we do have water) but what we lack in grand topographical gestures we make up for in everyday simple beauty.

Community is key

The sense of community is woven into the fabric of Midwestern living. A study from the University of Cambridge in 2013 examined the personalities of 1.5 million people across the country and found that Midwesterners had “moderately high levels of Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness.”

We’re also less stressed (which may be why we’re so agreeable). WalletHub did a survey in 2021 and ranked each state by its stress level. Nine out of the bottom 10 (read: least stressed) states were Midwestern.

If you’re considering a move out of your current state, consider a Midwestern one (shameless plug: consider Iowa!) Who knows? You may find yourself, ten years later, wondering why you’d want to live anywhere else.