Waukee and West Des Moines share a border, a school district line that runs through both, and a lot of the same buyers. Measured between their Census points the two cities are about six miles apart, yet the numbers behind them differ: Waukee has grown much faster since 2020, West Des Moines is more than twice its size, and as of the end of September 2026 the typical Waukee home value sat about $24,000 above the typical West Des Moines value. Here is the side by side, built only on public data, with the source behind every figure.
Waukee counted 23,940 residents at the 2020 Census, and the Census Bureau estimates 34,890 as of July 1, 2025, a change of 45.7 percent against the estimates base. West Des Moines counted 68,723 in 2020 with an estimate of 74,224 in 2025, a change of 8.0 percent. West Des Moines is the larger city by a wide margin. Waukee is growing faster off a smaller base.
Waukee covers about 21.9 square miles of land and West Des Moines about 47.5, by the Census Bureau's 2024 Gazetteer. Waukee lies wholly within Dallas County. West Des Moines reaches into four counties, Polk, Dallas, Madison and Warren, by the Census Bureau's 2020 place by county file. Waukee's ZIP code is 50263. West Des Moines uses 50265 and 50266, and the Warren County part of the city uses 50061.
Zillow puts the typical Waukee home value at $344,600 as of the end of September 2026, down 1.5 percent from $349,900 a year earlier. The typical West Des Moines home value is $320,600, up 0.4 percent from $319,400. That is a gap of about $24,000 on the typical home, with the two cities moving in opposite directions over the past year.
On supply, Zillow's October 29, 2026 market report for the 50263 area showed 597 active listings and 53 recently sold. Its October 23, 2026 report for the 50266 area showed 309 active listings and 48 recently sold. Keep in mind that 50266 is one of the ZIP codes West Des Moines uses, so that count is not the whole city. The current reads for both, and for the rest of the corridor, sit on my Central Iowa market page.
One caution on the value figures. These are typical value estimates, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, rounded to the nearest hundred dollars. They are not closed sale medians, and they are not a substitute for comparable sales on the street you are buying on.
This is the detail that surprises buyers most often in these two cities. The district follows the address, not the city name, and a large part of West Des Moines is in the Waukee district.
By US Census Bureau school district maps, about 87.4 percent of Waukee's area is in the Waukee Community School District, with about 11.5 percent on the south side in the Van Meter Community School District and about 1.1 percent on the west edge in the Adel DeSoto Minburn Community School District.
West Des Moines is split six ways. About 51.4 percent of the city's area is in the West Des Moines Community School District and about 34.5 percent, on the west side, is in the Waukee Community School District. The rest is divided among the Van Meter Community School District at about 5.7 percent, the Norwalk Community School District at about 4.4 percent, Des Moines Public Schools at about 2.9 percent and the Winterset Community School District at about 1.2 percent. These are shares of land area, not of homes, so they show where the lines fall and not how many addresses sit in each.
I do not rank districts. Compare the specifics you care about on the Iowa Department of Education district profiles. My Waukee schools page and West Des Moines schools page name each district with links to the official sources. Confirm the district for any address with the district itself before you write an offer.
Measured between the two cities' Census internal points, Waukee and West Des Moines are about 6 miles apart in a straight line. Relative to Des Moines, West Des Moines sits about 9 miles from the Des Moines Census point and Waukee about 14, both straight line. West Des Moines is the closer of the two to the center of the metro, and Waukee sits farther west.
The Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey puts the mean travel time to work at 19.8 minutes for Waukee workers and 18.3 minutes for West Des Moines workers. Averages hide your own route. Drive your real commute at your real rush hour from each address you are considering, in both directions.
The 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey shows how the existing housing differs:
These are five year survey figures describing the homes already standing, not current list prices, which is why the ACS median value and the Zillow typical value do not match. Read them together, then price the specific property.
For investors, both cities carry a sizable renter occupied share, and West Des Moines carries the larger one, which generally means more existing rental property to evaluate and more comparable rents to pull. Median gross rent is higher in Waukee, and so is the median owner value, so neither figure settles the question alone. The numbers on the individual property decide it. My Waukee house hacking guide, the West Des Moines house hacking guide and the deal calculator run those figures with real rent and real taxes.
Waukee is entirely in Dallas County. A West Des Moines address can be in Polk, Dallas, Madison or Warren County, and in any of six school districts. Each combination of county, city and school district is its own set of levies, so two West Des Moines homes at the same price can carry different tax bills. Pull the actual tax history for the address from the county treasurer or assessor instead of estimating from a city average.
Under Iowa Code section 24.2A, the county auditor mails each property owner a statement of proposed property taxes by March 15, and each city, county and school district holds a separate public hearing on its proposed property tax amount where residents and property owners can give testimony. If the home will be your primary residence, ask the assessor's office about Iowa's homestead exemption, and if a future assessment looks off, the protest window runs April 2 through April 30.
Search both cities as one search area, then narrow with these three questions:
If you are comparing more than these two, my Grimes and Waukee comparison and the West Des Moines and Ankeny comparison cover the neighboring choices, and the Central Iowa areas map shows how all of them sit together.
What this means for your strategy: Run Waukee and West Des Moines as a single search, sorted by school district line and county instead of by city name. Pull the assessed value and tax history on any address you like, check the district with the official source, and price it off recent comparable sales instead of a typical value estimate. Investors can run the actual rent and the actual tax figure through the calculator before writing.
Start with the Waukee area guide and the West Des Moines area guide, or go deeper on daily life with living in Waukee and living in West Des Moines. For a no pressure look at specific homes in either city, reach out and the Flanders Team at RE/MAX Real Estate Center will lay out the numbers clearly. New buyers can start with the buyers guide.
Sources: US Census Bureau QuickFacts for Waukee city, Iowa and West Des Moines city, Iowa, vintage 2025 population estimates and 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey five year estimates for owner occupied rate, median value of owner occupied housing units, median gross rent and mean travel time to work, accessed 2026-11-10; US Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer place file for land area and city internal points; US Census Bureau 2020 place by county file for county assignment; US Census Bureau TIGERweb place and unified school district boundaries for the district area shares, read 2026-09-28; State of Iowa ZIP code table; Zillow Home Value Index, all homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, Zillow Research data file through September 30, 2026, a typical value estimate rounded to the nearest hundred dollars and not an MLS closed sale median; Zillow market report emails for the 50263 area dated October 29, 2026 and the 50266 area dated October 23, 2026; Iowa Code section 24.2A, Iowa Code 2026, legis.iowa.gov. Equal Housing Opportunity. This post compares objective public data only and is general information, not legal or tax advice.
Jackson Krile | Flanders Team | RE/MAX Real Estate Center
515.490.8614 · Jackson@FlandersTeam.com
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