($1,530) Movers From Des Moines, IA to Ontario, CA

What to know before moving from Des Moines to Ontario

Moving from Des Moines to Ontario comes with exciting new opportunities — but also higher living costs. Since Ontario is generally more expensive than Des Moines, it’s important to plan ahead and budget carefully for the change.

Check out how the two cities compare so you know what to expect before you relocate:

• Rent prices in Ontario are 128% higher than in Des Moines, which means you’ll have less money in your pocket each month.
• In terms of homeownership, you’ll be able to get more for your money in Des Moines.
  Home prices in Ontario are 247.3% higher than in Des Moines.
• Income in Ontario is 22.9% higher than in Des Moines, so you could earn more for doing the same job. The top employers in Ontario include Prime Healthcare, Niagara Bottling, and Gold Star Foods.
• Be sure to budget for higher bills in Ontario, since the cost of living for a single person in Ontario is 30.8% higher than in Des Moines. This includes routine expenses like utilities, groceries, clothing, and transportation.
• If you’re moving your family to Ontario, keep in mind that your living expenses could increase. The cost of living for a family in Ontario is 32.3% higher than in Des Moines.
• The unemployment rate in Ontario is 16.95% higher than in Des Moines.
• You’ll spend more on retail and restaurants in Ontario, since the city’s sales taxes in Ontario are 25.00% higher than in Des Moines.
• State income taxes in Ontario are 202.27% higher than in Des Moines.

To put this in perspective, you would need around $3,923.32 in Ontario to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with $3,000.00 in Des Moines.

How life is different in Des Moines vs. Ontario

• Ontario might offer you a slower pace of life, since the population is about 75% less than Des Moines.
• Your access to buses, shuttles, trams, or trains in Ontario will be about the same as it currently is in Des Moines. The cities share a similar public transportation score, which means their transit systems are comparable in terms of how connected they are, how often they provide service, and how close they are to jobs, housing, retail and food stores, and other important locations.
• You’ll find Ontario to be about as walkable as Des Moines. The two cities have similar walkability scores of 48 and 45 respectively out of 100 in terms of how close housing is to businesses, recreational facilities, and jobs.
• If cycling is your thing, Ontario is considered more bike-friendly than Des Moines in terms of designated lanes and connectivity and how many residents opt to commute on two wheels rather than by car. Ontario has a bike-friendliness score of 46 out of 100, while Des Moines is rated as 39 out of 100.
• The crime rate in Ontario is higher than in Des Moines, so you may want to exercise a little extra caution as you're acclimating to your new location. While the crime index is 50.25 in Ontario, it is 5.0 in Des Moines. With this index, the lower the score, the better, since it indicates a city’s crime levels.
• You may want to exercise more caution as you’re getting used to your new surroundings in Ontario. With a crime index of 49.75, Ontario ranks lower in overall safety than Des Moines, whose index is Des Moines's 57.8. The safety index measures how safe people in a city feel about walking alone, both during the day and at night, as well as data on muggings, theft, vandalism, and other instances of petty crime.
• The air quality in Ontario and Des Moines is generally the same (Good). Cities with good to moderate ratings have clean or acceptable air quality, with the possibility of small pollutants affecting people with certain health conditions like asthma. Anything beyond the moderate rate means increased impact on residents.