Johnston vs West Des Moines

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

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

West Des Moines has the higher population (69,893 vs 24,196 in Johnston). Johnston has the higher median household income ($103,430 vs $84,925 in West Des Moines). Johnston has the higher median home value ($346,200 vs $286,300 in West Des Moines).

Population, income & housing

	Johnston	West Des Moines
Population	24,196	69,893
Median age	38.4 yrs	36.5 yrs
Median household income	$103,430	$84,925
Median home value	$346,200	$286,300
Median gross rent	$1,288	$1,194
Housing units	9,868	33,605
Homeownership rate	72.3%	57.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	57.9%	54.6%
Unemployment rate	1.8%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Johnston	West Des Moines
Population	21,406 → 24,196 (+13.0%)	65,606 → 69,893 (+6.5%)
Median household income	$96,948 → $103,430 (+6.7%)	$76,368 → $84,925 (+11.2%)
Median home value	$268,300 → $346,200 (+29.0%)	$218,500 → $286,300 (+31.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,146 → $1,288 (+12.4%)	$1,017 → $1,194 (+17.4%)

Johnston

Population

21,40624,196

Median household income

$96,948$103,430

Median home value

$268,300$346,200

Median gross rent

$1,146$1,288

West Des Moines

Population

65,60669,893

Median household income

$76,368$84,925

Median home value

$218,500$286,300

Median gross rent

$1,017$1,194

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Johnston	West Des Moines
Under 5	6.0%	5.9%
5 to 17	23.0%	15.3%
18 to 24	6.2%	8.6%
25 to 34	10.2%	18.0%
35 to 44	14.5%	13.9%
45 to 54	14.8%	11.9%
55 to 64	9.2%	11.8%
65 to 74	9.7%	8.3%
75 and over	6.4%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Johnston	West Des Moines
White (non-Hispanic)	79.3%	78.3%
Black or African American	8.6%	3.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	7.2%	7.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.7%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	2.1%	6.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Johnston	West Des Moines
No high school diploma	2.5%	3.7%
High school graduate	14.5%	16.1%
Some college or associate's	25.1%	25.6%
Bachelor's degree	36.7%	35.7%
Graduate or professional degree	21.1%	18.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Johnston	West Des Moines
Drove alone	79.2%	71.9%
Carpooled	4.7%	7.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.3%
Walked	1.0%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.1%
Worked from home	14.5%	17.3%
Other means	0.4%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Johnston	West Des Moines
1-unit, detached	58.7%	44.8%
1-unit, attached	15.0%	11.9%
2 to 4 units	1.5%	2.0%
5 to 19 units	9.9%	18.0%
20 or more units	15.0%	22.5%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.9%

Poverty & households

	Johnston	West Des Moines
Poverty rate	7.6%	7.3%
Average household size	2.51	2.18
Mean commute (minutes)	19	18
Median year structure built	2004	1993