Urbandale vs West Des Moines

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

Urbandale 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 46,026 in Urbandale). Urbandale has the higher median household income ($113,086 vs $84,925 in West Des Moines). Urbandale has the higher median home value ($318,800 vs $286,300 in West Des Moines).

Population, income & housing

	Urbandale	West Des Moines
Population	46,026	69,893
Median age	38.7 yrs	36.5 yrs
Median household income	$113,086	$84,925
Median home value	$318,800	$286,300
Median gross rent	$1,176	$1,194
Housing units	17,907	33,605
Homeownership rate	77.6%	57.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	51.4%	54.6%
Unemployment rate	2.9%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Urbandale	West Des Moines
Population	43,441 → 46,026 (+6.0%)	65,606 → 69,893 (+6.5%)
Median household income	$90,858 → $113,086 (+24.5%)	$76,368 → $84,925 (+11.2%)
Median home value	$237,500 → $318,800 (+34.2%)	$218,500 → $286,300 (+31.0%)
Median gross rent	$935 → $1,176 (+25.8%)	$1,017 → $1,194 (+17.4%)

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

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)

	Urbandale	West Des Moines
Under 5	6.0%	5.9%
5 to 17	20.8%	15.3%
18 to 24	5.8%	8.6%
25 to 34	12.0%	18.0%
35 to 44	15.2%	13.9%
45 to 54	13.3%	11.9%
55 to 64	12.6%	11.8%
65 to 74	9.1%	8.3%
75 and over	5.2%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Urbandale	West Des Moines
White (non-Hispanic)	79.8%	78.3%
Black or African American	5.4%	3.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	5.4%	7.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.5%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	6.4%	6.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Urbandale	West Des Moines
No high school diploma	5.1%	3.7%
High school graduate	18.0%	16.1%
Some college or associate's	25.5%	25.6%
Bachelor's degree	33.9%	35.7%
Graduate or professional degree	17.5%	18.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Urbandale	West Des Moines
Drove alone	74.0%	71.9%
Carpooled	7.2%	7.8%
Public transit	0.4%	0.3%
Walked	0.6%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	15.9%	17.3%
Other means	2.0%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Urbandale	West Des Moines
1-unit, detached	68.4%	44.8%
1-unit, attached	9.2%	11.9%
2 to 4 units	2.7%	2.0%
5 to 19 units	8.5%	18.0%
20 or more units	10.3%	22.5%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	0.9%

Poverty & households

	Urbandale	West Des Moines
Poverty rate	6.3%	7.3%
Average household size	2.68	2.18
Mean commute (minutes)	18	18
Median year structure built	1992	1993