A prominent business magazine has ranked Iowa’s capitol city as one of the country’s "best places for business and careers." Des Moines ranks number four on the Forbes magazine list.
According to a news release from the magazine’s staff, that ranking may have folks rethinking the idea that Iowa is just "the corn state." Iowa’s low unemployment rate was cited, as well as business costs in Des Moines that are 10 percent below the national average. The magazine also praised Des Moines for some "quality of life" aspects like a new sports arena, art center and the downtown skywalks.
Six of the ten metro areas ranked by Forbes as the top ten best places for business and careers are state capitol cities. The three cities ahead of Des Moines are Raleigh, North Carolina; Boise, Idaho and Fort Collins, Colorado. Lexington, Kentucky was ranked at number five, followed by Atlanta and Richmond and the two Washington state cities of Olympia and Spokane. Knoxville, Tennessee was ranked 10th.