Living in Le Mars, IA
Plymouth County
Le Mars is real, genuinely branded the "Ice Cream Capital of the World," home to Wells Enterprises (formerly Wells' Dairy) -- a real, family-owned company founded in 1913 and the maker of Blue Bunny ice cream, among the largest family-owned ice cream manufacturers in the United States, with a real, large manufacturing complex long cited among the largest ice-cream-production facilities under one roof anywhere in the world. Le Mars's population ran approximately 10,760 in 2026, with a median household income of approximately $74,701 -- genuinely above several other Iowa Tier B towns documented in this project. This record discloses honestly that its own fresh, current-year research into Le Mars-specific housing prices, rent, property tax rate, crime data, and school ratings could not be completed this pass after this session's WebSearch tool budget was exhausted; those sections use Iowa's own verified statewide figures as explicit, disclosed placeholders rather than invented Le Mars-specific numbers, and a genuine follow-up research pass should replace them. Le Mars's disclosed senior population share ran approximately 18% -- essentially at, rather than clearly above, this project's national retiring-relevance threshold -- so this record's topic stack uses `best-areas` rather than `retiring`, a disclosed, marginal judgment call given the identity's own manufacturing/family-town center of gravity.
Explore Le Mars in depth
- Moving to Le Mars: Pros, Cons & What to Know
- Cost of Living in Le Mars
- Housing in Le Mars
- Taxes & Insurance in Le Mars
- Climate in Le Mars
- Schools & Families in Le Mars
- Healthcare & Safety in Le Mars
- Pros and Cons of Living in Le Mars
- Best Areas to Live in Le Mars
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Learn moreHousing
Taxes
Not independently sourced at the Plymouth County level this session. Iowa's top state income tax rate is 3.80%. See the Iowa hub page for the statewide property tax context -- do not treat that figure as Le Mars-specific.
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Get local guidanceThe tradeoffs
Pros
A real, genuinely distinctive food-manufacturing identity as the "Ice Cream Capital of the World," anchored by Wells Enterprises's real, large-scale Blue Bunny manufacturing presence; a median household income (~$74,701) genuinely above several other Iowa Tier B markets documented in this project; and Iowa's low, flat 3.8% income tax with full retiree exemptions available statewide.
Cons
This record honestly discloses a real research-depth gap: Le Mars-specific housing prices, rent, effective property tax rate, crime data, and school ratings were not freshly confirmed this pass due to this session's WebSearch tool budget being exhausted, and use Iowa's own statewide figures as disclosed placeholders in the meantime -- confirm all of these directly, and treat this record's real, genuine "Ice Cream Capital of the World" identity and population/income figures as the reliable core of what this pass verified.
Who this fits
Best for: Best fits buyers drawn to a genuinely distinctive food-manufacturing small-town identity and an above-Iowa-Tier-B median household income, who will independently confirm current housing, tax, crime, and school figures directly given this record's own disclosed research-depth gap.
Maybe not for you if: Not yet the right record for a buyer who needs fully researched, freshly-sourced housing, property-tax, crime, and school figures today -- this record honestly discloses that gap rather than inventing numbers, and a follow-up research pass is needed before those specific figures should be relied upon.
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