Louisville/Jefferson County composite
60.3 /100
Grade C · weighted across 7 dims
2026 data Public-data reference. 11 dimensions compared
Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN vs Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA
Side-by-side comparison across cost of living, rent, wages, crime, schools, childcare, and environment — sourced entirely from U.S. federal data, no crowdsourced estimates.
Louisville/Jefferson County vs Waterloo: composite livability scores
Louisville/Jefferson County and Waterloo differ across eleven dimensions of livability. Louisville/Jefferson County has a cost-of-living index of 93.1 vs Waterloo's 87.1 (national average = 100). A 2-bedroom averages $1,272/mo vs $1,051/mo.
Reading the Louisville/Jefferson County vs Waterloo Comparison
Louisville/Jefferson County (KY) and Waterloo (IA) are assembled here from the same federal data pipeline — BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, FBI Uniform Crime Reports, NCES public-school counts, and EPA environmental indicators — so every number on this page is directly comparable. The overall cost index reads 93.1 for Louisville/Jefferson County against 87.1 for Waterloo, a 6.0-point gap on a scale where 100 equals the U.S. average. HUD's 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent — the figure used to set housing-choice voucher payment standards — is $1,272/mo in Louisville/Jefferson County and $1,051/mo in Waterloo, a $221/mo difference that compounds to $2,652 over a year.
Wage data is reported by metro delineation, and one of these metros is missing a BLS record for the latest OES cycle; the salary columns below fall back to available years. State-level violent crime, the most reliable geographic tier FBI UCR publishes, is 225.5 per 100,000 residents in KY vs 238.5 in IA, with property-crime rates of 1397.1 and 1286.3 respectively.
Schools are reported at the state tier by NCES: KY lists 1,395 public schools at a 15.6:1 student-teacher ratio, while IA lists 1,326 schools at 15.0:1 — a signal of class-size staffing, though individual district and school-level variation within each state is substantial. Department of Labor center-based infant care runs $7,238/yr in the Louisville/Jefferson County area versus $8,306/yr in Waterloo — a line item that shifts the real cost-of-living picture for households with children under five far more than headline RPP does. When these pieces are read together rather than in isolation, Louisville/Jefferson County and Waterloo are not simply "cheaper" or "more expensive" — they trade across dimensions, and which metro wins depends on whether your household optimizes for rent, wages, schools, childcare, safety, or environment. Treat the tables below as inputs to that trade-off, not as a single ranking.
Waterloo composite
71.5 /100
Grade B- · weighted across 7 dims
Cost-of-living gap
6.0 pts
Louisville/Jefferson County vs Waterloo BEA RPP
2-bed rent delta
$221 /mo
Louisville/Jefferson County priced higher
Composite life score on the national 0–100 scale
Louisville/Jefferson County
Louisville/Jefferson County composite (Grade C)
Waterloo
Waterloo composite (Grade B-)
Composite is a weighted roll-up of seven dimensions: cost (20%), wages (20%), rent (15%), safety (15%), schools (10%), childcare (10%), environment (10%). Each input normalized to a 0–100 percentile across all metros.
💰 Cost of Living PlainCost →
| Category | Louisville/Jefferson County | Waterloo |
|---|---|---|
| Overall RPP | 93.1 | 87.1 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 93.7 |
| Services | 75.0 | 83.7 |
| Rents | 78.6 | 63.1 |
Salary Equivalent Calculator
What salary in Waterloo gives the same purchasing power as your salary in Louisville/Jefferson County?
$
Equivalent in Waterloo:
$93,535
Based on BEA Regional Price Parities (Louisville/Jefferson County: 93.1, Waterloo: 87.1, national avg = 100).
🏠 Rent (Fair Market Rent) PlainRent →
| Bedrooms | Louisville/Jefferson County | Waterloo |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | $966/mo | $725/mo |
| 1 Bedroom | $1,047/mo | $801/mo |
| 2 Bedroom | $1,272/mo | $1,051/mo |
| 3 Bedroom | $1,625/mo | $1,357/mo |
| 4 Bedroom | $1,891/mo | $1,763/mo |
🛡️ Crime Rates (state-level) PlainCrime →
| Crime Type (per 100K) | Louisville/Jefferson County (KY) | Waterloo (IA) |
|---|---|---|
| Violent Crime | 225.5 | 238.5 |
| Property Crime | 1397.1 | 1286.3 |
🎓 Schools (state-level) PlainSchools →
| Metric | KY | IA |
|---|---|---|
| Total Schools | 1,395 | 1,326 |
| Student-Teacher Ratio | 15.6:1 | 15.0:1 |
| Charter Schools | 0.0% | 0.3% |
👶 Childcare Costs (Annual Avg) (state-level) PlainChildcare →
| Age Group | KY | IA |
|---|---|---|
| Infant (Center) | $7,238/yr | $8,306/yr |
| Toddler (Center) | $6,605/yr | $7,157/yr |
| Preschool (Center) | $6,605/yr | $7,157/yr |
🌿 Environment (state-level) PlainEnviro →
| Metric | KY | IA |
|---|---|---|
| EPA Facilities | 489 | 546 |
| Water Systems | 376 | 1,077 |
| Superfund Sites | 20 | 25 |
| Water Violations | 1,788 | 729 |
Government-verified data — Air quality (EPA AQS), water safety (EPA SDWIS), healthcare access (HRSA), and disaster risk (FEMA NRI) are sourced directly from U.S. federal agencies. No crowdsourced estimates.
💨 Air Quality (EPA AQS) PlainAir →
| Metric | Louisville/Jefferson County | Waterloo |
|---|---|---|
| Median AQI | 51.0 | 48.0 |
| Good Air Days | 47.3% | 55.1% |
| Unhealthy Air Days | 13 days | 0 days |
💧 Water Safety (EPA SDWIS, state-level) PlainWater →
| Metric | KY | IA |
|---|---|---|
| Water Safety Score | 1/100 | 6/100 |
| Total Violations | 80,482 | 138,271 |
| Health-Based Violations | 12,554 | 27,946 |
| Systems with Violations | 99.1% | 95.2% |
🏥 Healthcare Access (HRSA, state-level) PlainHealthAccess →
| Metric | KY | IA |
|---|---|---|
| Healthcare Access Score | 0/100 | 0/100 |
| Population in Shortage Area | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| HPSA Designations | 687 | 448 |
HPSA = Health Professional Shortage Area, designated by HRSA. Higher access score = better healthcare availability.
⚠️ Natural Disaster Risk (FEMA NRI, state-level) PlainHazard →
| Metric | KY | IA |
|---|---|---|
| Disaster Safety Score | 71/100 | 77/100 |
| NRI Risk Score (avg county) | 44.2 | 39.7 |
| Expected Annual Loss Score | 41.4 | 47.9 |
FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) scores are county-level percentiles (0–100). Higher disaster safety score = lower relative risk. State-level values are county averages.
Crime, schools, childcare, and environment data shown at state level. Metro-specific data for these dimensions is not available.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Louisville/Jefferson County more expensive than Waterloo? ▼
Louisville/Jefferson County has a cost of living index of 93.1 compared to Waterloo's 87.1 (national average = 100). Louisville/Jefferson County is 6.0 points above Waterloo on the BEA Regional Price Parity scale.
What is the rent difference between Louisville/Jefferson County and Waterloo? ▼
A 2-bedroom apartment averages $1,272/mo in Louisville/Jefferson County vs $1,051/mo in Waterloo, based on HUD Fair Market Rent data. Studios range from $966/mo to $725/mo.
How do salaries compare between Louisville/Jefferson County and Waterloo? ▼
Wage data is not available for one or both metros.
Is Louisville/Jefferson County or Waterloo safer? ▼
At the state level, KY has a violent crime rate of 225.5 per 100,000 residents compared to IA's 238.5 per 100,000. Property crime rates are 1397.1 vs 1286.3 per 100,000 respectively, based on FBI Uniform Crime Report data.
How do schools compare between Louisville/Jefferson County and Waterloo? ▼
KY has 1,395 public schools with an average student-teacher ratio of 15.6:1, while IA has 1,326 schools at 15.0:1. Charter schools make up 0.0% of KY schools vs 0.3% in IA. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Where does the comparison data come from? ▼
All data comes from official U.S. government sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis (cost of living), HUD (fair market rents), BLS (wages), FBI UCR (crime), NCES (schools), Department of Labor (childcare), EPA (environment, air quality, water safety), HRSA (healthcare access), and FEMA NRI (disaster risk). No crowdsourced estimates or proprietary ratings are used.
Research Guides
Explore Further
Louisville/Jefferson County Cost of Living
BEA Regional Price Parity breakdown
Waterloo Cost of Living
BEA Regional Price Parity breakdown
Louisville/Jefferson County Rent Data
HUD Fair Market Rents by bedroom
Waterloo Rent Data
HUD Fair Market Rents by bedroom
Louisville/Jefferson County Schools
NCES school profiles and demographics
Waterloo Schools
NCES school profiles and demographics
KY Crime Data
FBI UCR crime statistics
IA Crime Data
FBI UCR crime statistics
Relocate Louisville/Jefferson County to Waterloo
7-dimension relocation intelligence
Relocate Waterloo to Louisville/Jefferson County
7-dimension relocation intelligence
Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, EPA AQS, EPA SDWIS, HRSA, and FEMA NRI. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.
Related
Data sourced from official U.S. government datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare Editorial