Ames vs Story City

A side-by-side comparison of Ames and Story City: population, income, housing, and more.

Ames and Story City are places in Iowa. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Ames has the higher population (66,112 vs 3,363 in Story City). Story City has the higher median household income ($73,558 vs $60,102 in Ames). Ames has the higher median home value ($263,800 vs $205,800 in Story City).

Population, income & housing

	Ames	Story City
Population	66,112	3,363
Median age	23.3 yrs	44.6 yrs
Median household income	$60,102	$73,558
Median home value	$263,800	$205,800
Median gross rent	$1,040	$956
Housing units	27,706	1,610
Homeownership rate	42.9%	74.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	63.5%	35.7%
Unemployment rate	6.4%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ames	Story City
Population	66,023 → 66,112 (+0.1%)	3,377 → 3,363 (-0.4%)
Median household income	$48,105 → $60,102 (+24.9%)	$77,656 → $73,558 (-5.3%)
Median home value	$205,900 → $263,800 (+28.1%)	$145,500 → $205,800 (+41.4%)
Median gross rent	$930 → $1,040 (+11.8%)	$736 → $956 (+29.9%)

Ames

Population

66,02366,112

Median household income

$48,105$60,102

Median home value

$205,900$263,800

Median gross rent

$930$1,040

Story City

Population

3,3773,363

Median household income

$77,656$73,558

Median home value

$145,500$205,800

Median gross rent

$736$956

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ames	Story City
Under 5	3.2%	7.6%
5 to 17	8.3%	16.4%
18 to 24	42.9%	3.8%
25 to 34	13.4%	12.4%
35 to 44	8.5%	10.2%
45 to 54	6.2%	14.1%
55 to 64	6.9%	11.6%
65 to 74	6.2%	13.9%
75 and over	4.6%	10.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ames	Story City
White (non-Hispanic)	77.6%	93.7%
Black or African American	3.6%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	9.4%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.1%	1.0%
Hispanic or Latino	4.9%	4.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ames	Story City
No high school diploma	2.5%	3.9%
High school graduate	11.5%	21.9%
Some college or associate's	22.5%	38.4%
Bachelor's degree	32.6%	27.1%
Graduate or professional degree	30.9%	8.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ames	Story City
Drove alone	65.3%	91.3%
Carpooled	7.7%	2.3%
Public transit	5.8%	0.0%
Walked	7.9%	0.8%
Bicycle	1.6%	0.0%
Worked from home	11.3%	4.8%
Other means	0.4%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ames	Story City
1-unit, detached	39.8%	61.1%
1-unit, attached	6.9%	5.4%
2 to 4 units	8.0%	14.4%
5 to 19 units	22.2%	11.1%
20 or more units	20.4%	7.2%
Mobile home & other	2.7%	0.8%

Poverty & households

	Ames	Story City
Poverty rate	25.9%	13.1%
Average household size	2.13	2.17
Mean commute (minutes)	16	23
Median year structure built	1991	1971