From time to time I like to share my thoughts about various states and whether or not I would consider living in them in the future. Iowa has been in the news a lot lately, and it’s one I’ve thought about but it’s not certainly on the top of my list, even though it has some things going for it.

Iowa is a rural state. The state is 19% larger then New York but has fewer then 3.2 million people, and most of them live in the cities. Many of the rural towns have only a few hundred people, with a majority of rural towns having fewer then 20 people per square mile. While certainly not a lot of people, there is a lot of hogs and cattle, to eat and turn all of the corn and soybeans produced into state into delicious meat and milk — and provide manure to fertilize the crops. The state produces over $27 billion in agriculture commodities yearly, far beyond the $5 billion that New York produces. It’s the leading producer of hogs, corn and other agriculture crops.

It’s a great state for wildlife and hunting, assuming you have land to hunt on — there isn’t a lot of public land in Iowa, much of the state’s land is privately owned. The state is home to some of the nation’s biggest bucks, best migratory bird hunting, great trapping opportunities along the lakes and woods. But at the same time, agriculture run-off and pollution is a growing concern, especially as federal conservation reserve program payments have lagged behind what can be gotten from commodity payments, and incentives are leaning increasingly towards tearing up fence lines, planting more, planting closer to waterway. Run-off causes algae blooms in creeks, it causes pesticides to run off, it causes soil erosion — and it’s an enormous problem facing the agriculture community — where people are just trying to make enough money to feed their families and pay back their land and equipment loans before the bank the takes the farm.

The lack of public lands in Iowa is probably one of the biggest downsides in my perspective. Even if I owned a fair bit of land, I think I would want to be able to visit public lands to hunt, fish, camp and explore. It’s good to have your piece of property and know it well and the wildlife that resides on it, but it’s also good to be able to travel to other public lands not that far from home. Change is good, and it kind of sucks to be wedded to one piece of land. Other mid-west states, like Missouri and Wisconsin which I have written about before offer much more public land, much of it federally owned and lightly regulated for public use and enjoyment.

Iowa certainly isn’t all flat, it’s hilly, but you won’t see the mountains there like you might see in the Adirondacks or the Appalachian mountains in West Virginia, or even the big Appalachian ridges in Pennsylvania. You probably don’t have to worry about sliding off a mountain road in the winter. But there certainly isn’t the wilderness areas to recreate or enjoy. That said, there is a lot of rural and remote country in Iowa, there are many towns that have only a few hundred people spread out over 36 square miles — population densities are outside of cities 20 persons per square mile or less.

I am sure as a rural state, taxes are pretty low and government is laid back. With many of the towns having a population fewer then 1,000 and many even far less, it’s a chance to know your neighbors and your community. Gun laws are probably superior to anything you’d fine back east, and you can do whatever you want with your property within reason. Outside of the cities in Iowa, out can shoot guns all day off your back porch, burn noxious smelling trash and debris (at least after dark), or do basically whatever you want in your backyard without bothering your neighbors or getting the cops called on you. Chances are outside of the cities, the code inspections aren’t vigorous, and probably there is a lot of opportunities to have a off-grid home in big parts of Iowa.

But I’m not sure what I would do for work if I were to move to Iowa. But I guess that’s true with many very desirable locations to live. They would be over-run with people if there were a lot of jobs. Also the lack of significant public lands is a big no for me, and the winters are still pretty cold and icy there. Ultimately, I am not really sure if it would be an improvement over living in New York.