Lives have changed in measurable ways, such as longer commutes, tighter budgets and second jobs. But ask newcomers like Deana and Guy Gast, who last year bought the 4,200-square-foot home of ex-Maytag boss Ralph Hake, and they'll say it's the "other stuff" that has mattered most.

"Living here is like a retreat," said Deana Gast, whose family moved last spring from Des Moines, where her husband still works as president of Waldinger Corp. "Newton is less about running your kids around to soccer practice, and more about watching your kids run around playing with the neighbors. We actually take walks to the ice cream shop. I'm still pinching myself."

City leaders point to progress:

Still, there are signs of struggle in Newton, such as more bankruptcies. The unemployment rate is nearly double that of the state. Some experts say those indicators could continue to simmer before they boil over a few years from now. Or, in keeping with Newton's stubborn determination to transform itself, those markers of economic and social health could simply level off one day.

"It doesn't surprise me that Newton is such a mixed bag right now," said Paul Lasley, chairman of the sociology department at Iowa State University. "It's too soon to know what these indicators mean, and whether something more is percolating there that we can't see yet. Newton is going through transitions right now on most every level, and these transitions hold important consequences for the future."