Every few years, Townsend employees are also given a free five-hour physical. After one of those physicals three years ago, 55-year-old engineer Chris Arnold found out that his longstanding liver disease would be fatal without a transplant. The CEO of Townsend told his three company pilots to give Arnold their cell-phone numbers in the event that a donor liver became available and he needed immediate transportation. "That's exactly what happened," Arnold says. "I flew to Minnesota for the transplant on the jet and they even paid for my hospital stay. I wouldn't be here otherwise."
Bryan Kanis, who has been with Townsend for 26 years, tells a similar story. The company offered to make its plane available for his father, who was in line for a heart transplant. "I've thought about leaving Iowa over the years," Kanis says. "I hate the cold, wouldn't mind living someplace with palm trees. But the one thing that's kept me here is Townsend Engineering. They've been loyal to me and my family, and I'm going to return that loyalty to them." So there are ways to make Des Moines seem warmer than the sort of place where palm trees grow after all.
| Des Moines | New York | San Francisco | |
|---|---|---|---|
| unemployment rate | 3.5% | 8% | 7% |
| average commute (minutes) | 19 | 35 | 29 |
| median home price | $131,200 | $350,900 | $560,200 |
| average rent (1 BR apartment) | $605 | $1396 | $1379 |
| office rental (per square foot) | $19.66 | $55.40 | $40.32 |
| national rank of public schools* | 5 | 47 | 28 |
| median household income | $39,408 | $47,030 | $55,221 |
* Determined by statewide high-school graduation rates
Alison Overholt (aoverholt@fastcompany.com) is a Fast Company staff writer based in San Francisco.
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