The Johnston Brief
Most "cost of living in Johnston" pages are run by national data sites that have never set foot here. This is the local version, built from public records: what a home and a rent check actually run, what you earn, what you pay in taxes, and how it stacks up against the rest of the country and the rest of the Des Moines metro.
Johnston lands close to the U.S. average on overall cost of living (indexes put it right around 1% above the national average), but housing runs above the metro median. It is the more established, higher-end side of the north metro. That is offset by a high local median household income of around $107,000. The trade-off: Johnston's city tax levy is on the higher side for the metro.
Housing is the one category where Johnston runs clearly above average, and it's the main reason the town reads as a pricier suburb. The 2026 year-to-date median home sale price has been about $375,000 in Polk County Assessor records, well above the Des Moines metro median and above neighboring Ankeny (around $324,000). Homes average roughly $230 per square foot, and new construction has run about 18% of sales, mostly newer pockets on the west side. See the neighborhoods guide for where the price runs high and where it eases.
Here's the honest trade-off: the City of Johnston's FY2026 property-tax levy is $11.4379 per $1,000 of taxable value, unchanged from the prior year and on the higher side for the metro. It runs above neighboring Ankeny (about $9.90) and Urbandale (about $9.98), and roughly in line with Grimes (about $11.19). The catch worth understanding is that the city is only one slice of your bill; the county, the school district, DMACC and the transit authority levy the rest. Iowa has a flat state income tax, and there's a local sales tax on top of the state rate.
Outside of housing, Johnston is a pretty typical Midwestern cost picture: groceries, utilities and healthcare land close to the national average. Setting up power, gas, water and internet is straightforward (electric and gas through MidAmerican Energy, water and sewer through the City of Johnston), and we walk through exactly who to call in the moving-to-Johnston guide. The one hidden cost of a spread-out suburb is the car: many errands mean a drive, though the 45-plus miles of city trails and the Town Center make parts of town genuinely walkable.
The Johnston Brief is a free weekly email on the town: home sales, what's being built, new places, and what's happening. The cheapest way to know a place before you live there.
Johnston is close to the U.S. average overall (index around 1% above the national average) but its housing runs above the metro median, with a 2026 year-to-date median sale price near $375,000. It's offset by a high median household income of around $107,000.
Cost-of-living indexes put Johnston roughly 1% above the national average overall, with housing about 11% higher than the U.S. average. Groceries, utilities and healthcare are typical for the Midwest; housing runs above average.
The 2026 year-to-date median sale price is about $375,000, based on Polk County Assessor records, running well above the metro median. Homes average roughly $230 per square foot, and new construction has been about 18% of sales.
The City of Johnston's FY2026 levy is $11.4379 per $1,000, unchanged from last year and higher than Ankeny (about $9.90) and Urbandale (about $9.98), roughly in line with Grimes (about $11.19). The county, schools, DMACC and transit add to your total bill.
A typical one-bedroom runs roughly $1,100 to $1,200 a month in 2026, somewhat above the national median, varying by size, neighborhood and age of the building.