Windsor Heights is the metro's best-kept central address — a small, walkable city surrounded on every side by Urbandale, Clive, West Des Moines, and Des Moines. If you're weighing a move here, this is the honest assessment from someone who works this market daily.
You'll love Windsor Heights if you...
The most important thing to know: Windsor Heights is split between two districts. Addresses west of 70th Street fall in the West Des Moines Community School District, and addresses east of 70th Street fall in Des Moines Public Schools. Two schools sit physically inside the city — Clive Learning Academy (West Des Moines) and Cowles Montessori School (Des Moines).
For school-level performance metrics, the Iowa Department of Education's School Performance Profiles tool is the most current objective source. I also keep a separate deep-dive on Windsor Heights schools that walks through the split in detail.
Because the whole city is only about a mile and a half across, the meaningful lines here aren't sprawling subdivisions — they're the 70th Street school-district boundary and the mix of established mid-century homes versus newer infill along University Avenue. West of 70th sits in the West Des Moines district; east of 70th sits in Des Moines Public Schools. I work through the exact trade-offs for your priorities during the buyer consultation.
This is Windsor Heights' superpower. I-235 clips the south end of the city, so downtown Des Moines is roughly 10 minutes east and West Des Moines, Clive, and Jordan Creek are about 10 minutes west. You're minutes from the major hospitals, employers, and the whole metro's amenities without living on the edge of any of them.
The University Avenue corridor and the Walnut Creek Trail are the community's anchor. Windsor Heights rebuilt University Avenue with a modern streetscape and trail connection, and residents genuinely use it — walking, biking, and gathering at the local businesses along it. Add Colby Park and Colby Woods, and you get a small city that punches well above its size on walkability and green space.
Windsor Heights is a low-inventory market by nature — it's landlocked, built out, and small, so few homes are for sale at any given moment. The housing stock is largely established mid-century construction, which means prices span a wide range depending on size and updates: smaller original ranches and bungalows sit at the lower end, while renovated homes and newer University Avenue townhomes run higher. Well-priced, move-in-ready homes tend to move quickly here because of the central location.
For a current snapshot of Windsor Heights inventory and pricing, I send a free monthly Central Iowa market report. Subscribe at Jackson's Hub.
Whether you're a first-time buyer, right-sizing, or relocating and evaluating Windsor Heights for the first time, I can walk through what your specific budget gets you here versus the neighboring cities. No pressure, no sales pitch — just the numbers and the honest reality of the market.
Jackson Krile is a REALTOR® on the Flanders Team at RE/MAX Real Estate Center. Licensed in Iowa #S66867000. DMAAR + CIBR member. Serving Central Iowa.
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