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Cost & Benefits

Cost of living in Cedar Falls, Iowa

Cedar Falls, Iowa has about 40,888 people. Typical rent is $1,203 a month, including utilities, and a typical household earns $76,987 a year. Both figures are Census 2020–2024 medians, not a listing or your pay. This site does not approve or deny benefits. A missing figure stays blank. We do not guess it.

Ranked #73 in Iowa on the 2026 Most Affordable Towns Index.

Simple answer

Typical rent is $1,203 a month.

Cedar Falls is a city in Iowa. That rent number includes utilities. A typical household earns $76,987 a year.

Is Cedar Falls affordable?See benefits in Cedar Falls
People
40,888
Census average, 2020–2024
Typical rent
$1,203
Median gross rent, includes utilities
Typical pay
$76,987
Median household income, yearly
Typical home
$263,600
Median home value
2-bedroom fair rent
$1,096
Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA HUD Metro FMR Area

Cedar Falls, Iowa has about 40,888 people. That count is a 2020–2024 Census average, not a headcount from one day.

A typical home is worth about $263,600.

HUD's fair-market rent for a 2-bedroom in Black Hawk County is $1,096 a month. That is the county number, not an apartment listing in Cedar Falls. It runs from October 2026 through September 2027.

In the Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA metro area, prices sit at 87.1 when the U.S. average is 100. That is a 2024 BEA index.

Iowa taxes wages. A typical combined sales tax is 6.9% as of January 1, 2026. That mix is statewide, not Cedar Falls's exact store tax.

Some places in Iowa add a local wage tax. In 2023 the state average was about 0.08% of income. That is not a Cedar Falls bill.

In July 2026, a typical Iowa home paid 15.99¢ per kilowatt-hour. That is a state average from EIA, not Cedar Falls's bill.

EIA did not publish a 2025 all-grades gas price for Iowa in the table we use.

Among 264 places we list in Iowa with a rent figure, 21 have higher typical rent than Cedar Falls.

Nearby places

EBT nearby

USDA has a live map of stores that take SNAP. We did not copy that store list here. The downloadable file is a history file for 2005 through 2025, so the live map is the one to use.

Find SNAP stores near Cedar FallsWhat EBT can buy in Iowa

Locator page updated 2026-09-11. Last checked 2026-10-16.

Food stamps (SNAP) tools in Iowa

Bigger places in Iowa

Census 2020-2024. HUD rents for October 2026–September 2027. BEA prices for 2024. Taxes as of January 1, 2026. Checked 2026-10-16. 15,000 places are in this guide.