Brags

Date

 Source Rank Brag
  CNBC 10th Iowa cracks CNBC's Top 10 States for Business.
Jul.-15 Refinery29   What $100 will get you in each state? In Iowa, it’s $110.74.
Jul.-15 Business Facilities Top 10 IOWA in Top 10 of Business Facilities Magazine Rankings in the following categories: Employment Leaders, Lowest Industrial Electricity Rates, Installed Wind Power Capacity Leaders, Wind Power/Percentage of Overall Energy, Credit Quality, Biofuels Leaders (Ethanol).
Jul.-15 SmartAsset   Good news for folks looking to sell their home in Waterloo: A recent study ranked it among the easiest places in Iowa to sell. SmartAsset, a New-York based financial technology company ranked cities in the US by the number of days their homes spend on the market.
Jul.-15 Forbes 49th Waterloo ranked 49th in Forbes' Best Small Places for Business and Careers.
Feb.-15 NerdWallet 4th Cedar Falls ranked 4th in Best Small Cities in America.
Feb.-15 Gallup-Healthways
Well-Being Index		 16th Iowa received a score of 62.2 in the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, ranking Iowa 16th in the nation.
Jan.-15 Politico 7th Iowa comes in respectable at No. 7 in Politico magazine's second annual State of the States ranking. Politico compiled 14 existing rankings of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, based on factors like education, health, wealth, crime, unemployment and death rates using data from the Census Bureau, FBI, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other sources. Each state's rankings were averaged to come up with a master list.
Jan.-15 Zip Recruiter 15th Cedar Falls ranked No. 15 in the nation easiest cities to find a job.
Dec.-14 Motovo 1st Iowa ranked the most affordable state in America.
Dec.-14 Business Insider 4th Waverly ranked 4th best value suburb in America.
Nov.-14 Successful Aging 35th The Cedar Valley ranked 35th best city for successful aging.
Nov.-14 jobsearchintelligence.com 37th UNI ranks #37 out of 1200+ universities in the country.
Oct.-14 Yahoo Finance 4th Iowa ranked 4th best quality of life state for its job climate and safety.
Sept.-14 CNBC 12th Iowa ranked 12th best state for business.
Sept.-14 wallethub.com 7th Iowa ranked 7th best place to have a baby.
Aug.-14 Hospitals & Health Networks   UnityPoint Health, with affiliate locations across the Cedar Valley, was recognized for the third year in a row as one of the nation's "Most Wired Health Systems".
Aug.-14 Bankrate 1st Iowa is the cheapest place to own a vehicle.
Aug.-14 Motovo 7th Cedar Falls ranked 7th most exciting city in Iowa.
Mar.-14 Site Selection Magazine 6th Site Selection named the state of Iowa #6 in the Governor’s Cup per capita rankings, a list of states with the highest number of qualified capital investment projects in the previous calendar year.
2014 Kiplinger's Magazine 7th UNI ranked No. 7 on Kiplinger’s list of the Top 25 Universities and Colleges Under $30,000 a year.
2014 Area Development Magazine 96th The Cedar Valley Region ranked in the Top 100 Leading Locations, ranking 96th best in the United States out of 380 metropolitan statistical areas.
2014 Area Development Magazine 52nd Waterloo ranked 52nd recession-busting city out of 380 metropolitan statistical areas..
2014 Economic Strength Rankings by Policom 170th The Cedar Valley's ranking has increased 49% from 334 to 170 placing since 2004, placing us in the top half nationally,
demonstrating economic strength through long-term, consistent, growth in both size and quality.
2014 ProfessionalBuilders.com 15th The Cedar Valley ranked 15th in the top 20 fastest-growing construction markets by Professionalbuilders.com.
2014 CNBC 12th Iowa ranked 12th Best State for Business.
12/30/2013 UNI   On average, undergraduate student loan debt has declined by 10 percent over the last three years. On national average, UNI students borrow 21 percent less than other students
12/30/2013 affodablecollegesonline.org 1st UNI was rated the most affordable and high-quality provider of online education in the state of Iowa
12/30/2013 Kiplinger's Personal Finance   UNI ranked as one of the top 100 "Best Values in Public Colleges" for 2014- jumped twenty-four spaces to be ranked number 71
11/23/2013 USA Today 3rd 3rd best-run state: Debt per capita is $2,479 (15th lowest), budget deficit is 2.5% (41st largest), unemployment is 5.2% (tied for 5th lowest)
11/12/2013 University Economic Development Association   Received the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award for the Dream Big Grow Here program and the Research and Analysis Award for the Iowa Business Concierge program
11/10/2013 USAA and US Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Hiring our Heros 4th Waterloo- Cedar Falls ranked fourth among small-sized metro areas across the US for veterans to find civilian employment according to a new study. Iowa City ranked 7th and Sioux City 9th
8/23/2013 Forbes 16th Best Small Places for Business and Careers 
5/6/2013 Fast Company 1st Iowa start-ups No. 1 in revenue 
2/6/2013 Gallup Poll 5th Iowa ranks right behind Washington DC in a job creation index calculated by Gallup Poll. At 5th place nationwide, Iowa has a job creation index of 24, meaning 24% more companies are adding jobs than those cutting jobs. This has improved dramatically since 2009 when Iowa’s index was 5. 
1/31/2013 Courier   More than 500,000 guests have attended events at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center, UNI-Dome, and McCleod Center
Jan-13 Capitol Business   Iowa has an unemployment rate of 5.1% as of January 2013
2013 US News & World Report   The University of Northern Iowa is ranked second in the “Best Regional Universities Midwest” category for public universities. UNI is 22nd in a list of public and private Midwest regional universities
2013     Iowa’s gasoline tax at 40.5 cents per gallon remains below the national average of 49.5 cents.
2013     Iowa’s workers’ compensation costs are among the lowest in the nation and Iowa has a strong unemployment trust fund.
2013     Iowa has 60 barge terminals that ship and receive Iowa’s goods.
2013     There are 4,000 miles of freight rail line in Iowa.
2013 US Energy Information Administration   Iowa businesses experience some of the lowest utilities costs in the nation. The US Energy Information Administration announced that Iowa businesses pay only 8.37 cents per kilowatt-hour for power.
2013     17,000 UNI Alumni currently live in the Cedar Valley; More than 2,800 current students are from the Cedar Valley
2013     UNI student volunteered more than 220,000 hours to Iowa’s community organizations and programs.
2013 College Atlas 4th University of Northern Iowa ranked 4th in Midwest List and 13th Overall for College Atlas. College Atlas ranks schools according to affordability, academic quality, and accessibility.
2013 CNBC 5th Iowa ranked #11 for top states for Business in 2013 on CNBC, while ranking the 5th best economy and 9th in Business Friendliness
2013   10th Performance rank: 3rd in Productivity growth, 6th in per capita income growth, 8th in adjusted median family income
2013   12th Exports: 8th in export intensity growth, 8th in export growth
2013   37th  Business Climate: 5th in legal environment
2013   11th Talent Pipeline: 2nd in higher-ed degree output
2013 Alec-Laffer state economic competitiveness index 25th Economic preformation and economic outlook
2013 Health.com 18th Iowa is ranked the 18th healthiest state, down one from 2012. Strengths: high rate of high school graduation, low percentage of children in poverty, few poor mental and physical health days per month. Challenges: high prevalence of obesity, high prevalence of binge drinking, limited availability of primary care physicians. 
12/27/2012 Wall Street Journal   Iowa was ranked as the 5th “Best Run States in America.” Iowa has the 6th lowest unemployment rate, and 7th lowest debt per capita
10/22/2012 State of Iowa   Cedar Valley Trail system was awarded State's Tourism Attract of the Year
10/22/2012 State of Iowa   Waterloo-Cedar Falls Visitors Guide won the Outstanding Tourism Publication Award
10/22/2012     Tourism is a $7.2 billion industry in Iowa, employing 63,400 people statewide and generating more than $328.8 million in state taxes. Visitors spend $311.31 million in Black Hawk County alone
8/27/2012 Barron's Cover   Based on a number of indicators including debt, economic strength, finances, and ability to raise taxes; Iowa stands with South Dakota, Tennessee and North Carolina as the most stable states in which to invest.
8/21/2012     Cedar Falls ranks 1,126th among 11,522 cities nationwide in charitable contributions. The average number given in Cedar Falls is $3,147, at 5.1% of income with the average income set at $62,023. The least wealthy Cedar Falls residents gave the most in proportion to their incomes. 5.7% of income was given if earning $50,000-$99,999. 4.9% was given by those making $100,000-$199,999. 4% of income was given by those making $200,000 and up.
6/20/2012 Moody's Analytics   Strengths in the Cedar Valley include the presence of UNI providing skilled labor and stabilization of the workforce, as well as low business and living costs. Cost of doing business in Waterloo is 81% of the national average. Waterloo ranks 56 of 392 in employment growth. Cost of living in Waterloo is 85% of the national average.
6/15/2012 Moody's Analytics   Based on an adversity index, Waterloo is one of 21 metro areas in the nation that are in a state of steady expansion. There are 76 areas still at risk including Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison and La Crosse.
6/2/2012 Des Moines Register   “CEOs of Iowa’s largest businesses expect sales, capital spending and hiring to improve over the next six months, based on a quarterly survey.” “The Iowa Business Council’s overall economic outlook index rose to 68.3 in the second quarter from 66.3 in the first quarter and 65.3 the same quarter a year earlier.” These indexes take into account sales, hiring and capital investment.
Jun-12 Area Development Online   Dubuque has been ranked in 16th place among 365 cities nationwide as leading locations to be in 2012. Rankings were based upon 23 indicators from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the US Census American Community Survey. Waterloo-Cedar Falls landed the 29th spot, Ames the 30th, and Des Moines-West Des Moines the 63rd.  
5/20/2012 The Gazette   Of Iowa’s largest cities, Waterloo has the lowest percentage of debt as a percent of property value. Waterloo also had the only decrease in debt in 2011 compared to the same cities.
5/7/2012 Des Moines Register   Iowans have an average commute of 19.1 minutes and is tied with Kansas as the nation’s 7th shortest. The national average is about 25 minutes.
2012 Princeton Review   The University of Northern Iowa College of Business Administration holds the highest possible accreditation for business schools worldwide and has been listed among the Princeton Review’s Best Business Schools in the world six years in a row.
2012 MSN Money 5th Iowa ranks 5th among states with the best credit ratings
2012 Iowa Business Council 2nd Iowa ranks second in the nation with average ACT scores at 22.1
2012 Iowa Business Council 7th Iowa has the 7th highest manufacturing value as percent of Gross State Production at 18.6%.