Sioux City, an important agricultural processing and shipping center on the Missouri River, serves the “tri-state” area of northwest Iowa, northeast Nebraska, and South Dakota. This quiet but industrious city was once a major meatpacking and stockyards center. Food processing is still a major economic activity, and leftover historic interest has been preserved and brought forward with a few good museums and historic areas. There are other small but notable arts amenities for a town this size.

Cost of living and home prices are among the lowest in the state. The economy is stable but shows little sign of growth, and there isn’t much to do in the area. Omaha is about 80 miles to the south, making Sioux City relatively less isolated than other towns in the upper Midwest and Great Plains region.

The city is located along the Missouri River in an area of flat, river valleys and rolling, mostly agricultural land. The business district lies in the river valley and the residential sections, for the most part, spread over nearby hills. Located in the center of the continent and in the northern half of the Great Plains, the climate of Sioux City is typically continental and subject to the movements of weather systems. Under normal conditions winters are cold and summers are warm and humid but not excessively hot. Most precipitation arrives from April to September. Temperature and precipitation fluctuate considerably by season and from year to year, as occurs elsewhere in the northern plains. First freeze is early October, last is late May.