Best cities for sports in Iowa

BookrGo Best Sport Cities ranking: we rank the cities of Iowa by their 0-10 sports score, which combines density of centers per resident, variety of sports, listing quality and real activity. To keep the comparison fair, we measure every city's offering with the same sources of national coverage. An honest way to see where it's easiest (and hardest) to find somewhere to play.

244 scorable cities in Iowa.

#	City	Score /10	Centers
1	Decorah	8.2	42
2	Fairfield	7.7	40
3	Jefferson	7.7	15
4	Clinton	7.6	61
5	Bettendorf	7.5	118
6	Grinnell	7.5	39
7	Eldora	7.5	11
8	Urbandale	7.4	170
9	Carroll	7.4	31
10	Vinton	7.4	21
11	Estherville	7.4	20
12	Dubuque	7.3	153
13	Muscatine	7.3	62
14	Oskaloosa	7.3	45
15	La Porte City	7.3	7
16	Fort Dodge	7.2	58
17	Waverly	7.2	43
18	Pleasant Hill	7.2	33
19	Clear Lake	7.2	29
20	Dyersville	7.2	21
21	Algona	7.2	21
22	Iowa City	7.1	171
23	Ankeny	7.1	163
24	Sioux City	7.1	158
25	Cedar Falls	7.1	111
26	Mason City	7.1	78
27	Pella	7.1	50
28	Sioux Center	7.1	27
29	Humboldt	7.1	18
30	Story City	7.1	13
31	Tipton	7.1	13
32	Ida Grove	7.1	10
33	Cedar Rapids	7.0	362
34	Ames	7.0	167
35	Clive	7.0	72
36	Indianola	7.0	59
37	Harlan	7.0	19
38	Rock Rapids	7.0	10
39	Colfax	7.0	6
40	Des Moines	6.9	491
41	West Des Moines	6.9	250
42	Council Bluffs	6.9	136
43	Waterloo	6.9	124
44	Waukee	6.9	75
45	Marshalltown	6.9	51
46	Adel	6.9	27
47	Atlantic	6.9	21
48	Sheldon	6.9	17
49	Iowa Falls	6.9	12
50	Davenport	6.8	217
51	North Liberty	6.8	53
52	Burlington	6.8	50
53	Boone	6.8	37
54	Spencer	6.8	32
55	Mount Vernon	6.8	23
56	Arnolds Park	6.8	15
57	Bellevue	6.8	11
58	Le Mars	6.7	33
59	Keokuk	6.7	29
60	Webster City	6.7	24
61	Madrid	6.7	12
62	Osage	6.7	12
63	Sigourney	6.7	11
64	Guthrie Center	6.7	10
65	Bedford	6.7	8
66	Coralville	6.6	85
67	Grimes	6.6	53
68	Creston	6.6	19
69	Guttenberg	6.6	10
70	Marion	6.5	71
71	Norwalk	6.5	40
72	Nevada	6.5	25
73	Panora	6.5	20
74	Winterset	6.5	18
75	Cascade	6.5	14
76	Montezuma	6.5	13
77	Coon Rapids	6.5	10
78	Sanborn	6.5	6
79	Shenandoah	6.4	12
80	Altoona	6.3	49
81	Ottumwa	6.3	40
82	Monticello	6.3	18
83	Osceola	6.3	17
84	Washington	6.3	16
85	Centerville	6.3	14
86	Williamsburg	6.3	13
87	New Hampton	6.3	12
88	Anamosa	6.3	11
89	DeWitt	6.3	11
90	West Bend	6.3	6
91	Manchester	6.2	21
92	Jesup	6.2	12
93	West Union	6.2	9
94	Ackley	6.2	6
95	Denison	6.1	21
96	Glenwood	6.1	21
97	Independence	6.1	19
98	Albia	6.1	11
99	Ogden	6.1	11
100	Britt	6.1	10

How do we calculate the score?

Variety (25%) — how many different sports the city covers.
Quality (20%) — richness of each center's information.
Activity (20%) — real user interest over the last 30 days.
Scale (15%) — number of centers in the city.
Density (10%) — centers per resident (dampened).
Courts (10%) — total capacity: number of courts.

Each section is measured as a percentile against the other cities in the United States and combined into the final score, on a 0-10 scale. Variety and density are measured with a uniform instrument (only sources with homogeneous national coverage) so that no city is favored by having a more complete open catalog. We only score cities with population data and a presence in those sources.