Ankeny vs Des Moines

A side-by-side comparison of Ankeny and Des Moines: population, income, housing, and more.

Ankeny and Des Moines are places in Iowa. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Des Moines has the higher population (212,464 vs 70,542 in Ankeny). Ankeny has the higher median household income ($106,603 vs $63,966 in Des Moines). Ankeny has the higher median home value ($311,300 vs $183,700 in Des Moines).

Population, income & housing

	Ankeny	Des Moines
Population	70,542	212,464
Median age	33.2 yrs	34.6 yrs
Median household income	$106,603	$63,966
Median home value	$311,300	$183,700
Median gross rent	$1,279	$1,054
Housing units	28,619	97,457
Homeownership rate	71.0%	60.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	53.2%	29.0%
Unemployment rate	2.2%	5.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ankeny	Des Moines
Population	61,938 → 70,542 (+13.9%)	215,636 → 212,464 (-1.5%)
Median household income	$86,486 → $106,603 (+23.3%)	$53,525 → $63,966 (+19.5%)
Median home value	$220,100 → $311,300 (+41.4%)	$133,200 → $183,700 (+37.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,073 → $1,279 (+19.2%)	$855 → $1,054 (+23.3%)

Ankeny

Population

61,93870,542

Median household income

$86,486$106,603

Median home value

$220,100$311,300

Median gross rent

$1,073$1,279

Des Moines

Population

215,636212,464

Median household income

$53,525$63,966

Median home value

$133,200$183,700

Median gross rent

$855$1,054

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ankeny	Des Moines
Under 5	7.4%	6.8%
5 to 17	20.2%	16.2%
18 to 24	8.7%	10.7%
25 to 34	16.6%	17.0%
35 to 44	16.0%	13.0%
45 to 54	12.2%	11.8%
55 to 64	7.6%	11.9%
65 to 74	6.5%	7.7%
75 and over	4.8%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ankeny	Des Moines
White (non-Hispanic)	88.0%	61.7%
Black or African American	1.9%	11.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	3.0%	6.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.9%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	4.0%	16.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ankeny	Des Moines
No high school diploma	2.2%	12.7%
High school graduate	15.9%	29.1%
Some college or associate's	28.7%	29.1%
Bachelor's degree	35.7%	19.9%
Graduate or professional degree	17.5%	9.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ankeny	Des Moines
Drove alone	75.3%	72.3%
Carpooled	6.2%	11.2%
Public transit	0.3%	1.1%
Walked	0.8%	2.2%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.4%
Worked from home	16.4%	11.4%
Other means	0.9%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ankeny	Des Moines
1-unit, detached	58.2%	61.6%
1-unit, attached	15.2%	3.9%
2 to 4 units	2.8%	5.1%
5 to 19 units	12.2%	8.1%
20 or more units	10.4%	18.6%
Mobile home & other	1.0%	2.8%

Poverty & households

	Ankeny	Des Moines
Poverty rate	4.1%	14.9%
Average household size	2.54	2.30
Mean commute (minutes)	21	20
Median year structure built	2005	1960