Best Places to Buy Rental Property in Iowa (2026)

Burlington is both the cheapest city on this list and the one where rent goes furthest against price: a $120,000 median closed price carries a $925 median asking rent, a gross yield of 9.2 percent. One caution on the rent side: in Iowa City houses asked a median of $2,400 while the all-type median was $1,750. For a house, compare house rents with house sale prices; substituting the house rent into a ratio whose denominator is a mixed sale median only makes the number look better, not more representative. Volume and yield part ways: Des Moines closes about 284 homes a month, more than any other city here, and ranks eighth on yield at 6.6 percent. The table shows the 20 highest-yielding markets among 24 Iowa cities meeting the coverage requirements; the yield range above describes the markets shown.

The ranking

Gross yield here is an asking rental yield screen: twelve times the median asking rent over the median closed price, before taxes, insurance, vacancy, management or repairs. Sales use municipal boundaries. Rental listings use the associated city name and may cover a wider postal area. The ratio therefore compares related, but not perfectly matched, market samples, and a home bought at the median price does not necessarily earn the median rent. Confirmed-close medians appear where at least 30 confirmed lease closes were recorded in the window.

City by city

1. Burlington, 9.2 percent gross

Read Burlington's $925 rent as an apartment figure: 60 percent of its listings are apartments or condos, and the house median is $950. At $120,000 to buy and $925 a month to rent, Burlington yields 9.2 percent gross on 219 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $85 per square foot. See the Burlington page for the property mix and the price band.

2. Mason City, 7.8 percent gross

At $162,000 to buy and $1,055 a month to rent, Mason City yields 7.8 percent gross on 287 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $117 per square foot. Full detail is on the Mason City market page.

3. Cedar Rapids, 7.3 percent gross

Cedar Rapids moves fast, 5 days from listing to contract at the median, which matters more than its 7.3 percent yield if you cannot close quickly. At $215,000 to buy and $1,300 a month to rent, Cedar Rapids yields 7.3 percent gross on 1,216 tracked closings. Full detail is on the Cedar Rapids market page.

4. Norwalk, 7.2 percent gross

Norwalk ranks fourth on yield but only thirteenth on entry price: the $1,985 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. Homes in Norwalk closed at a median of $330,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,985, a gross yield of 7.2 percent. See the Norwalk page for the property mix and the price band.

5. Council Bluffs, 7.2 percent gross

Homes in Council Bluffs went under contract in a median of 7 days, so a buyer chasing its 7.2 percent yield needs financing ready before the search. Homes in Council Bluffs closed at a median of $217,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,295, a gross yield of 7.2 percent. Full detail is on the Council Bluffs market page.

6. Iowa City, 6.8 percent gross

Rent is what puts Iowa City sixth here; on price alone it would sit eleventh of 20. At $310,000 to buy and $1,750 a month to rent, Iowa City yields 6.8 percent gross on 558 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $177 per square foot. The Iowa City market page carries the monthly figures.

7. Davenport, 6.6 percent gross

Read Davenport's $1,095 rent as an apartment figure: 61 percent of its listings are apartments or condos, and the house median is $1,420. At $199,000 to buy and $1,095 a month to rent, Davenport yields 6.6 percent gross on 709 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $143 per square foot. The Davenport market page carries the monthly figures.

8. Des Moines, 6.6 percent gross

At $217,500 to buy and $1,195 a month to rent, Des Moines yields 6.6 percent gross on 1,701 tracked closings. Full detail is on the Des Moines market page.

9. Grimes, 6.5 percent gross

Grimes ranks ninth on yield but only seventeenth on entry price: the $1,895 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. The numbers: $351,000 median closed price across 183 closings, $1,895 median asking rent across 141 listings, 6.5 percent gross. See the Grimes page for the property mix and the price band.

10. Altoona, 6.4 percent gross

Altoona ranks tenth on yield but only sixteenth on entry price: the $1,845 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. The numbers: $347,200 median closed price across 249 closings, $1,845 median asking rent across 55 listings, 6.4 percent gross. The Altoona market page carries the monthly figures.

11. North Liberty, 6.2 percent gross

Homes in North Liberty closed at a median of $329,450 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,700, a gross yield of 6.2 percent. Houses there closed at about $172 per square foot. See the North Liberty page for the property mix and the price band.

12. Sioux City, 6.1 percent gross

Sioux City is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: fifth on price, twelfth on yield, because a $215,000 home there rents for only $1,100. The numbers: $215,000 median closed price across 576 closings, $1,100 median asking rent across 444 listings, 6.1 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $140 per square foot. See the Sioux City page for the property mix and the price band.

13. Bettendorf, 6.1 percent gross

Homes in Bettendorf went under contract in a median of 8 days, so a buyer chasing its 6.1 percent yield needs financing ready before the search. The numbers: $333,000 median closed price across 328 closings, $1,700 median asking rent across 326 listings, 6.1 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $179 per square foot. Full detail is on the Bettendorf market page.

14. Urbandale, 6.1 percent gross

Rent is what puts Urbandale fourteenth here; on price alone it would sit eighteenth of 20. The numbers: $356,000 median closed price across 546 closings, $1,795 median asking rent across 279 listings, 6.1 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $220 per square foot. See the Urbandale page for the property mix and the price band.

15. Dubuque, 6.1 percent gross

Dubuque is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: ninth on price, fifteenth on yield, because a $238,000 home there rents for only $1,200. The numbers: $238,000 median closed price across 437 closings, $1,200 median asking rent across 597 listings, 6.1 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $145 per square foot. Full detail is on the Dubuque market page.

16. Waterloo, 6.0 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Waterloo far: it is third cheapest on this list and sixteenth on yield, with rent of $895 against a $178,750 median price. The numbers: $178,750 median closed price across 476 closings, $895 median asking rent across 1,105 listings, 6.0 percent gross. See the Waterloo page for the property mix and the price band.

17. Waukee, 5.9 percent gross

At $385,000 to buy and $1,900 a month to rent, Waukee yields 5.9 percent gross on 463 tracked closings. The Waukee market page carries the monthly figures.

18. Ankeny, 5.8 percent gross

Homes in Ankeny closed at a median of $339,900 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,650, a gross yield of 5.8 percent. Houses there closed at about $225 per square foot. The Ankeny market page carries the monthly figures.

19. Johnston, 5.5 percent gross

Only 96 rental listings sit behind Johnston's $1,800 median; the yield is real but less settled than in cities with hundreds. Homes in Johnston closed at a median of $389,990 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,800, a gross yield of 5.5 percent. Houses there closed at about $225 per square foot. The Johnston market page carries the monthly figures.

20. Marion, 5.3 percent gross

Marion is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: tenth on price, twentieth on yield, because a $281,500 home there rents for only $1,245. Homes in Marion closed at a median of $281,500 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,245, a gross yield of 5.3 percent. The Marion market page carries the monthly figures.

How this ranking is built

• •Cities: every Iowa city where Resideline tracked at least 100 closings inside the municipal boundary in its reporting window (six or twelve months) and at least 50 rental listings under the city's name since October 3, 2025: 24 cities qualify and the table shows the 20 highest-yielding.
• •Prices: the median price homes closed at inside the city limits, from Resideline's tracked closings; the state comparison uses the statewide median of $262,500 across 19,996 closings.
• •Rents: the median advertised rent on rental listings Resideline tracked in the last twelve months, all property types, measured on the listings that carry the city's name (a postal footprint, wider than the city line in some places).
• •Confirmed-close medians: Observed rent blends two kinds of record: confirmed lease closes extracted from property records, and the final asking rent on listings that left Resideline tracking without a recorded close. Where a city has at least 30 confirmed closes in the window, their median is printed beside the asking figure; in the last twelve months about a quarter of Resideline's close episodes are confirmed closes. The asking and confirmed-close samples are separate, not paired, so a difference between their medians is not a measured gap on the same listings.
• •What is missing: taxes, insurance, vacancy, management and repairs, which turn a gross yield into a net one, and the unit mix, which differs between what sells and what rents.

Sources and related pages

• •Resideline tracked closings inside city limits (window per city, updated October 4, 2026) and rental listings since October 3, 2025; confirmed lease closes extracted from property records.
• •More Iowa rankings: Cheapest cities to buy a house in Iowa ranks the same kind of list with each city's price per square foot for houses, realized appreciation and days to contract beside the median, and Cap Rate by City ranks the Iowa cities Resideline tracks by gross rental yield. The Iowa housing market hub carries the statewide figures and the largest Iowa markets by closings.
• •Asking rent vs observed rent compares live asking rents with final asking rents under that study's own definition; it says nothing about confirmed lease closes.

Prepared with Resideline's research pipeline and reviewed by Jeffrey Batista, Resideline's founder.