Des Moines vs Urbandale

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

Des Moines and Urbandale 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 46,026 in Urbandale). Urbandale has the higher median household income ($113,086 vs $63,966 in Des Moines). Urbandale has the higher median home value ($318,800 vs $183,700 in Des Moines).

Population, income & housing

	Des Moines	Urbandale
Population	212,464	46,026
Median age	34.6 yrs	38.7 yrs
Median household income	$63,966	$113,086
Median home value	$183,700	$318,800
Median gross rent	$1,054	$1,176
Housing units	97,457	17,907
Homeownership rate	60.4%	77.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.0%	51.4%
Unemployment rate	5.7%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Des Moines	Urbandale
Population	215,636 → 212,464 (-1.5%)	43,441 → 46,026 (+6.0%)
Median household income	$53,525 → $63,966 (+19.5%)	$90,858 → $113,086 (+24.5%)
Median home value	$133,200 → $183,700 (+37.9%)	$237,500 → $318,800 (+34.2%)
Median gross rent	$855 → $1,054 (+23.3%)	$935 → $1,176 (+25.8%)

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

Urbandale

Population

43,44146,026

Median household income

$90,858$113,086

Median home value

$237,500$318,800

Median gross rent

$935$1,176

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Des Moines	Urbandale
Under 5	6.8%	6.0%
5 to 17	16.2%	20.8%
18 to 24	10.7%	5.8%
25 to 34	17.0%	12.0%
35 to 44	13.0%	15.2%
45 to 54	11.8%	13.3%
55 to 64	11.9%	12.6%
65 to 74	7.7%	9.1%
75 and over	4.8%	5.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Des Moines	Urbandale
White (non-Hispanic)	61.7%	79.8%
Black or African American	11.8%	5.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	6.2%	5.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.0%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	16.0%	6.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Des Moines	Urbandale
No high school diploma	12.7%	5.1%
High school graduate	29.1%	18.0%
Some college or associate's	29.1%	25.5%
Bachelor's degree	19.9%	33.9%
Graduate or professional degree	9.1%	17.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Des Moines	Urbandale
Drove alone	72.3%	74.0%
Carpooled	11.2%	7.2%
Public transit	1.1%	0.4%
Walked	2.2%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	11.4%	15.9%
Other means	1.3%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Des Moines	Urbandale
1-unit, detached	61.6%	68.4%
1-unit, attached	3.9%	9.2%
2 to 4 units	5.1%	2.7%
5 to 19 units	8.1%	8.5%
20 or more units	18.6%	10.3%
Mobile home & other	2.8%	0.9%

Poverty & households

	Des Moines	Urbandale
Poverty rate	14.9%	6.3%
Average household size	2.30	2.68
Mean commute (minutes)	20	18
Median year structure built	1960	1992