If you are deciding between West Des Moines and Ankeny, the short answer is that the choice usually comes down to three facts you can check: which school district a specific address sits in, the drive you will make every day, and the housing stock your budget reaches in each city. Both cities are past 70,000 residents by the Census Bureau's latest estimates, and they sit on opposite sides of the metro, so the real question is not which city wins a ranking. It is which one lines up with your routine.
I get this question from buyers who are open to the whole Des Moines metro and want a straight, side-by-side read. Here is how the two cities compare on public data, with the sources behind every number, so you can make the call with clear facts in front of you.
West Des Moines had 68,723 residents at the 2020 Census, and the Census Bureau estimates 74,224 as of July 1, 2025. Ankeny had 67,887 residents in 2020 and an estimated 77,833 in 2025. Both cities added residents over that stretch: roughly 9,900 in Ankeny and roughly 5,500 in West Des Moines.
Footprint is the other big difference. West Des Moines covers about 47.5 square miles of land and spans four counties: Dallas, Madison, Polk and Warren. Ankeny covers about 31.9 square miles and sits entirely in Polk County. That county split matters in West Des Moines because it shapes school district lines and which taxing districts sit behind a given parcel.
For mail and search filters: West Des Moines uses ZIP codes 50265 and 50266, with 50061 for the Warren County part of the city. Ankeny uses 50021 and 50023.
School district boundaries do not follow city limits in either city, so I always confirm the district for a specific address before a buyer writes an offer.
In West Des Moines, the West Des Moines Community School District serves the Polk County part of the city and the Waukee Community School District serves most of the Dallas County part. By US Census Bureau school-district maps, a small far-southwest corner falls in the Van Meter Community School District, the Warren County part in the Norwalk Community School District, the small Madison County part in the Winterset Community School District and a pocket on the east side in Des Moines Public Schools.
In Ankeny, most of the city is served by the Ankeny Community School District. By the same Census maps, part of the northeast is in the North Polk Community School District and part of the southeast is in the Saydel Community School District.
My West Des Moines schools page and Ankeny schools page list every district by name with links to the official sources, so you can review the district data directly rather than rely on anyone's summary.
Measured between the two cities' Census internal points, West Des Moines and Ankeny are about 15.5 miles apart in a straight line. By road, OpenStreetMap routing puts the same trip at about 22 miles and roughly 35 minutes with no traffic. A daily drive between the two is a real commitment, which is why the commute question often settles this comparison on its own.
Relative to Des Moines, West Des Moines sits about 9 miles from the Des Moines Census point and Ankeny about 11 miles, both measured in a straight line. The Census Bureau's American Community Survey puts the mean travel time to work at 18.3 minutes for West Des Moines residents and 21.1 minutes for Ankeny residents (2020-2024).
Those averages describe a whole city, not your route. I recommend driving your actual commute at your actual rush hour from any address you are serious about before you commit to a search area.
The Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey gives a clear, apples-to-apples read on each city's existing housing:
Two things stand out. A larger share of West Des Moines housing units are renter-occupied, so rental housing makes up more of its overall stock. In Ankeny, owner-occupied homes make up a larger share. Keep in mind these are five-year survey values that describe the housing already standing; they are not today's list prices. For current pricing in a specific neighborhood, I pull live MLS data rather than lean on citywide medians.
West Des Moines grew from Valley Junction, a railroad town that took the West Des Moines name at the end of 1937. The Valley Junction Commercial Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017 and holds shops, galleries and restaurants along a walkable main street. Jordan Creek Town Center opened on August 4, 2004. Raccoon River Park covers about 632 acres around the 232-acre Blue Heron Lake, with a 500-foot seasonal swimming beach and a 3.2-mile trail around the lake.
Ankeny traces its start to Uptown, where John Fletcher Ankeny and his wife, Sarah, recorded the town plat in 1875. The Uptown Ankeny Farmers Market sets up Saturday mornings from late May through September at 715 W 1st Street. The High Trestle Trail begins in Ankeny and runs 25 miles to Woodward. The District at Prairie Trail is the dining and entertainment center of the 1,031-acre Prairie Trail community, and Des Moines Area Community College has had its main campus in Ankeny since 1968.
For more on day-to-day life in each city, see my Living in West Des Moines guide and Living in Ankeny guide.
Both cities follow the same Iowa process, but each city, county and school district adopts its own budget, so the combined levy on two similar homes can differ. Under Iowa Code section 24.2A, the county auditor mails each property owner a statement of proposed property taxes by March 15. Each city, county and school district then holds a separate public hearing on its proposed property tax amount and takes testimony from residents and property owners. At that hearing, the governing body can decrease, but not increase, the proposed amount.
That process matters in West Des Moines because one city spans four counties and several school districts, so the taxing districts behind a parcel depend on the exact address. In Ankeny, the county is always Polk, and the school district is the main variable. If the home will be your primary residence, ask the assessor's office about Iowa's homestead exemption: the Iowa Department of Revenue notes that SF 2472, signed May 18, 2026, makes the homestead benefit a homestead tax exemption, and current claimants do not need to refile.
What this means for your strategy: Treat West Des Moines and Ankeny as two separate search areas, not one. Settle the commute and the district first, then compare specific homes on price, property taxes and condition. If you are investing, the different owner-occupancy and rent figures are worth testing in the Deal Calculator with real rents for the exact property.
When you are ready to go deeper, start with the West Des Moines area guide and the Ankeny area guide, see how both sit on the Central Iowa areas map, or read how Ankeny compares with Johnston. If you would like a no-pressure walkthrough of specific neighborhoods in either city, reach out and the Flanders Team at RE/MAX Real Estate Center will put the numbers side by side for you.
Jackson Krile | Flanders Team | RE/MAX Real Estate Center
515.490.8614 · Jackson@FlandersTeam.com
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