How Cedar Rapids is run
Cedar Rapids spent $630 million in the year to June 30, 2024, about $4,618 per resident.
What stands out about how Cedar Rapids is run
Read from the town’s budget, meetings and records. The page puts what stands out first.
Who runs Cedar Rapids
From public records, which can lag behind an election. Tell us if a name is out of date.
About $4,618 per resident a year, or $12.65 a day
The biggest line: roads & transportation, at 18% of spending.
Thank you for being a neighbor
Cedar Rapids Community School District
Cedar Rapids’s K–12 school district, shared with Palo, Hiawatha, Robins, Bertram. It’s its own government, with a budget separate from the town’s.
Of the $14,892 per pupil, $8,209 goes to the classroom (teachers, aides, supplies); the rest to buses, buildings, counselors and administration. Building projects and debt payments aren’t in the per-pupil figure.
Iowa districts overall: 43% local, 49% state, 8% federal.
College Community School District · $13,528 per pupil
Linn-Mar Community School District · $13,124 per pupil
School year 2023–24. Census Bureau school finance survey.
Per resident, spending is up 25% since 2022
Spending per resident, by fiscal year. Prices rose too: about 4% a year in 2022–2024.
Spending per resident by year
full-time in 2025, up from 1,298 in 2022.
* A Census Bureau estimate for that year (the town didn’t report most of its figures).
One full-time town employee for every 102 residents
On the payroll in March 2025.
By department full-time, plus part-time
Pay is March payroll times twelve, so it’s approximate. Part-timers count half in the bar lengths.
The typical homeowner pays $3,233 a year
Every local property tax on the home: town, schools and county. About 1.73% of the home’s value, vs 1.39% across Iowa.
Typical yearly bill next door and statewide
The Housing page’s calculator splits a monthly payment into loan, tax and insurance at Cedar Rapids’s rate.
Can I afford it? →The median bill homeowners report to the Census survey (bills of $10,000+ are reported as “$10,000+”). The effective rate is that bill ÷ the median home value: a rough guide, not the official tax rate.
How Cedar Rapids’s budget compares
Cedar Rapids ranks 6th lowest of 6 for spending per resident. Towns that run their own schools spend more. Tap a town to see its Town Hall.
The town government’s own spending in its newest year (often a Census Bureau estimate). — = no figures.
From town hall to Washington
Cedar Rapids sends 5 representatives to the Iowa House alone.
- 1Your cityMayor & council
- 2Iowa HouseCedar Rapids is split between 5 districts
- 3Iowa SenateState senator
- 4GovernorStatewide
- 5U.S. HouseYour representative in Congress
- 6U.S. SenateBoth represent all of Iowa
Democrat · Republican · other or independent. Tap a name for their official page.
Reach Cedar Rapids’s government
Numbers and hours come from neighbors and the town’s own site (the Handbook). A new one goes live once two neighbors confirm it.
Questions about how Cedar Rapids is run?
Neighbors who’ve been to the meetings can help.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Budget and staff: U.S. Census Bureau, Census of Governments and Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances and the Annual Survey of Public Employment & Payroll. School district: Census school finance survey. Property tax: Census American Community Survey, 5-year estimates. Officials: Open States and Wikidata. Representatives: Open States, the Census and congress-legislators.