Cedar Rapids is a city and county seat of Linn County in the US
state of Iowa. According to the 2020 census, the state's second
largest city had a population of 137,710. Cedar Rapids is the
core city of the metropolitan area of the same name.
Cedar Rapids is marketed as the "City of Five Seasons," with the
fifth season being "a time to enjoy." The term "Five Seasons"
appears in many forms throughout the city.
Cedar Rapids is located in eastern Iowa on the Cedar River, which is
part of the Mississippi Basin via the Iowa River. The city was named
after the rapids in the Cedar River.
The geographical coordinates
of Cedar Rapids are 41°58′59″ north latitude and 91°40′07″ west
longitude. The urban area covers an area of 186.66 km², which is divided
into 183.37 km² of land and 3.29 km² of water.
Neighboring towns
of Cedar Rapids are Toddville, Hiawatha and Robins (on the northern city
limits), Marion and Bertram (on the eastern city limits), Ely (10 miles
southeast), Shueyville and Swisher (on the southern city limits),
Fairfax (on the southwest city limits), Atkins (19 km west) and Palo
(17.9 km northwest).
The nearest major cities are Waterloo (55
miles northwest) and Iowa's former capital, Iowa City (26 miles
south-southeast). The nearest other major cities are Wisconsin's capital
Madison (164 miles northeast), Rockford, Illinois (155 miles east),
Chicago, Illinois (220 miles in the same direction), the Quad Cities of
Iowa and Illinois (125 miles eastsoutheast), St Louis in Missouri (457
km SSE), Kansas City in Missouri (507 km SW), Iowa's current capital Des
Moines (192 km WSW), Nebraska's largest city Omaha (414 km in the same
direction), Sioux City (425 km West), South Dakota's largest city Sioux
Falls (554 km WNW), Rochester, Minnesota (268 km NNW), and the Twin
Cities of Minnesota (401 km in the same direction).
Interstate Highway 380 crosses the city in a north-south direction.
The U.S. Highway 30 runs west-east through southern metropolitan Cedar
Rapids. From northeast to southwest, the U.S. Highway 151 through town.
The Iowa State Highway 100 runs in a west-east direction through the
north of the city area. All other roads are secondary country roads,
partly unpaved roads and inner-city connecting roads.
Four
freight railroads, the Union Pacific Railroad (UP), Cedar Rapids and
Iowa City Railway (Crandic), Canadian National Railway, and Iowa
Northern, serve the city on a scheduled basis. Crandic and the Iowa
Interstate Railroad have their corporate headquarters in Cedar Rapids.
Eastern Iowa Airport is 15 km south of downtown Cedar Rapids
Airport, which is served by a number of major American airlines.
Cedar Rapids is supported both in jobs and economically by two companies. One is cereal maker Quaker Oats (owned by PepsiCo), the other is Rockwell Collins, a company that designs and manufactures radio and communications equipment for Boeing and NASA, among others.
As of the 2010 census, Cedar Rapids was home to 126,326 people in
53,236 households. The population density was 688.9 people per square
kilometer. Statistically, 2.31 people lived in each of the 53,236
households.
The racial makeup of the population was 88.0 percent
White, 5.6 percent African American, 0.3 percent Native American, 2.2
percent Asian, 0.1 percent Polynesian, and 0.9 percent from other races;
2.9 percent descended from two or more ethnic groups. Regardless of
ethnicity, 3.3 percent of the population was Hispanic or Latino.
23.5 percent of the population was under 18 years old, 63.4 percent were
between 18 and 64 and 13.1 percent were 65 years or older. 50.9 percent
of the population were female.
The median annual household income
was $52,216. Per capita income was $28,458. 11.8 percent of the
residents lived below the poverty line.
Born in Cedar Rapids
Alanna Arrington (born 1998), model
Ben
Askren (born 1984), mixed martial arts fighter
Douglas Barr (born
1949), actor, screenwriter, director and winemaker
George Joseph
Biskup (1911–1979), Archbishop of Indianapolis
Paul Conrad
(1924–2010), cartoonist
Geof Darrow (born 1955), comic artist
Michael Daugherty (born 1954), composer, pianist and music educator
Karl David Djerf (born 1977), actor
Don DeFore (1913–1993), actor
Bobby Driscoll (1937–1968), Oscar-winning US child star of the 1940s and
1950s
Michael Emerson (born 1954), actor
Terry Farrell (born
1963), actress and former fashion model
Robert Fletcher (1922–2021),
costume designer
James William Good (1866–1929), politician, member
of the US House of Representatives
Michael D Green (1941–2013),
historian
Beulah Gundling (1916–2003), synchronized swimmer, aquatic
artist and choreographer
Donald A. Gurnett (1940–2022), physicist
John Hench (1908–2004), illustrator, storyboarder and production
designer
Victor Hopkins (1904–1969), cyclist
Nathan Hill (born
1978), writer
Zach Johnson (born 1976), PGA TOUR professional golfer
Ashton Kutcher (born 1978), actor and show host
Timothy LeDuc (born
1990), figure skater
Ron Livingston (born 1968), actor
Keegan
Murray (born 2000), basketball player
Chris Reed (born 1992),
American football player
John Sandford (born 1944), writer
Riley
Smith (born 1978), actor and model
Harvey Sollberger (born 1938),
flautist, composer and conductor
Carl van Vechten (1880–1964),
photographer and author
Elijah Wood (born 1981), actor
Other
Alexander Lippisch (1894–1976), aircraft designer, long lived in Cedar
Rapids
William L. Shirer (1904–1993), historian, journalist and
publicist, was educated in Cedar Rapids
Grant Wood (1891–1942),
artist, grew up in Cedar Rapids