Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA
**The insurance + financial services hub of the Midwest — affordable with very tight labor market.** Des Moines runs HPI **+41.5% over 5yr** with **YoY +2.47%** sustained. **P/I 3.00 affordable (right at the threshold), R/I 18.8% extremely comfortable (lowest in queue), Cap proxy 4.07% deal-by-deal**. MHV $252K. FMR 2BR $1,318. MHHI **$84,209 high**. 6 counties (Polk + Dallas + Warren + Jasper + Madison + Guthrie). **Permits 7.80/1k strong**, Permit YoY +34.5% accelerating. 62/35 SF/multi balanced. Migration +381 (+0.05% steady, weak — IA not a magnet state). **Unemployment 3.3% — very tight labor market**. Anchored by **Principal Financial Group HQ**, Wells Fargo regional HQ, **Nationwide Insurance regional**, **Pioneer Hi-Bred / Corteva HQ** (seed/agriscience), Iowa state government, John Deere offices, Drake University, the third-largest insurance hub in the world after NYC and London.
The numbers that matter most
What an investor checks first when sizing up a new metro — affordability ratio, rent vs income, cap rate proxy, and where the market is moving. Each metric shown vs. state and national medians for instant context.
affordable
Price to income
3.00×
The single most-cited 'is this market still cheap' check. Below 3× and you're in an affordability tailwind.
- vs Iowa
- 2.84×
- vs U.S.
- 3.43×-0.43
Benchmark
ACS median home value ÷ median HHI
comfortable
Rent to income
18.8%
What share of a typical household's income goes to rent. Below 30% means tenants can absorb modest rent increases.
- vs Iowa
- 18.6%
- vs U.S.
- 23.3%-4.5
Benchmark
(HUD FMR 2BR × 12) ÷ median HHI
deal-by-deal
Cap rate proxy
4.1%
Rough first-pass yield assuming a 35% expense ratio. Not an underwriting number — a 'is this even worth modeling' filter.
- vs Iowa
- 4.1%
- vs U.S.
- 4.4%
Benchmark
(FMR 2BR × 12 × 0.65) ÷ ACS median home value
steady
Net migration
+0.05%
Forward-looking demand signal. Positive net migration drives rent growth and absorbs new supply.
- vs Iowa
- -0.12%+0.17
- vs U.S.
- 0.04%+0.02
Benchmark
IRS net migration ÷ population
pipeline accelerating
Permit pipeline
7.80
permits per 1,000 residents
Forward-supply indicator. Above ~5 means the metro is building meaningfully relative to its size; below 2 means supply is tight.
- vs Iowa
- 3.85+3.95
- vs U.S.
- 3.49+4.32
Benchmark
Census BPS permits TTM ÷ population × 1,000
healthy
Unemployment
3.3%
Tighter unemployment means higher wages, more rental demand, lower vacancy.
- vs U.S.
- 4.0%-0.7
Benchmark
BLS LAUS, latest month
Section index — click any row to jump
What the data says about Des Moines
Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA is home to 711,490 residents in 6 counties — Polk, Dallas, Warren, Jasper, Madison, and Guthrie. The metro pulled 5,553 building permits over the trailing twelve months according to the Census Bureau Building Permits Survey — 7.80 per 1,000 residents, 2.2 times the national pace of 3.49. The cap rate proxy sits at 4.07% — deal-by-deal — and the price-to-income ratio is 3.00 affordable (right at the threshold). The rent-to-income ratio is 18.8% — extremely comfortable, the lowest of any T5 metro in the queue. Median household income is $84,209 (high), the median home value is $252K, and the BLS LAUS unemployment rate is 3.3% — very tight labor market.
The structural story is the insurance + financial services hub of the Midwest. Des Moines is the third-largest insurance hub in the world after New York City and London. The corporate roster:
- Principal Financial Group HQ — Fortune 500 financial services company, $1.6 trillion in assets under management. Founded in Des Moines in 1879.
- Wells Fargo regional HQ — Des Moines hosts one of the bank's largest non-California operations centers.
- Nationwide Insurance regional HQ — major employer in the Western suburbs.
- EMC Insurance (Iowa-based property/casualty), FBL Financial Group (Farm Bureau Life), Allied Insurance (Nationwide subsidiary), Marsh McLennan, Aviva.
- Pioneer Hi-Bred / Corteva HQ — the world's largest seed company. Founded in Des Moines in 1926, now part of Corteva Agriscience.
- John Deere offices and parts distribution.
- Iowa State Capitol and the entire Iowa state government.
- Drake University and Drake Law School.
- Des Moines is the political nexus of the Iowa Caucus every four years (when held), making the metro punch above its weight in national political media.
The county distribution:
- Polk County (493,378 residents, 4,134 permits TTM = 8.38 per 1,000) — Des Moines proper, Ankeny (fastest-growing suburb), Urbandale, Pleasant Hill, Altoona, Bondurant, Johnston, Grimes. 74% of the metro pipeline. Permit YoY +43.29%.
- Dallas County (100,367 residents, 810 permits = 8.07 per 1,000) — West Des Moines, Waukee, Adel, Dallas Center. MHHI $102,349 — the highest in Iowa, anchored by the Principal Financial campus and the Wells Fargo regional hub. Permit YoY −37.26% (sharp pullback after a 2022-2023 binge).
- Warren County (52,709 residents, 429 permits = 8.14 per 1,000) — Indianola, Carlisle, Norwalk. The southern bedroom community.
- Jasper County (37,808 residents, 76 permits) — Newton (former Maytag HQ), Colfax, Prairie City. Permit YoY +442.86% (off a tiny base).
- Madison County (16,609 residents, 64 permits) — Winterset, the birthplace of John Wayne and the setting for The Bridges of Madison County.
- Guthrie County (10,619 residents, 40 permits) — Panora, Guthrie Center.
Construction is 62% single-family / 35% multifamily (3,444 SF / 150 multi-2-4 / 1,959 multi-5+) — a high multifamily share for a Midwest metro, reflecting the downtown Des Moines apartment boom and the West Des Moines / Waukee corporate-campus growth. Permit YoY is +34.5% — strong sustained acceleration.
What's changing: net IRS migration is +381 returns (+0.05% of population) — barely positive. According to IRS Statistics of Income, Iowa is not a population-magnet state — most of the in-migration is from smaller Iowa metros and rural counties. Des Moines's growth is structural (corporate payroll expansion) more than migratory. Owner-occupancy 69.5%, vacancy 6.2% (low), bachelors 39.1% (high — financial services workforce), median age 36.7 (younger).
So what does an investor do?
- If you're hunting cash flow — Des Moines is the cleanest cash-flow + appreciation combo in the Midwest. The rent-to-income at 18.8% is the lowest of any T5 metro — that means rents have room to grow without burning out tenants. The cap proxy at 4.07% with healthy unemployment, low vacancy, and high MHHI is the textbook "stable Midwest with appreciation upside" profile. Focus on Polk County (Ankeny, Urbandale, Altoona) and the Polk/Warren bedroom band.
- If you're playing appreciation — Des Moines is the insurance-anchored compounder. The +41.5% over 5 years is structural, not speculative. The corporate payroll base (Principal, Wells Fargo, Nationwide, Pioneer) doesn't churn the way tech payrolls do. Buy and hold for the insurance + financial services decade. Watch the Iowa Caucus political relevance — if it shifts elsewhere, the metro loses some structural attention but the corporate base stays.
- If you already own here — hold and add. Des Moines has the rare combo of affordable + healthy labor + workable cap rate + accelerating permits. The +34.5% permit YoY is the bullish supply signal. Add in Polk County before the Dallas County pullback resolves.
Where prices are and where they've been
FHFA House Price Index — repeat-sales index across the metro, sized against this metro's median household income and benchmarked against the Indiana metros average and U.S. metros average.
5-year price appreciation
+41.5%
FHFA HPI · Q1 2020 → Q4 2025
+2.5% YoY
$252,400 median home value
Des Moines home prices climbed 41.5% over the last 5 years according to the FHFA repeat-sales index — a steady appreciation pace for a Midwest metro of this size. The 1-year change of 2.5% suggests steady appreciation continuing.
See the chart below for how the metro's appreciation curve stacks up against the Indiana metros average and the U.S. metros average. The gap between the metro and the national line is the "catch-up" or "lag" signal — and the slope tells you whether the gap is widening or closing.
How to read it
- 01Des Moines ran **+41.5% over five years** — solid Midwest territory, beating the U.S. metros average (+34.3%) by 7 points.
- 02**Recent YoY is +2.47%** — moderate, sustained. Des Moines avoided the Sun Belt cooldown entirely.
- 03Inside Iowa, Des Moines ranks #1 by population, #1 by permits, top quartile by HPI — Iowa's only metro with substantial Fortune 500 employment.
- 04U.S. metros ran **+34.3%** over the same window. Des Moines outperformed by ~7 points — top-tier compounding for the price point.
- 05The takeaway: Des Moines is the **insurance capital of America with affordability** — Principal Financial, Wells Fargo, Nationwide, and Pioneer Hi-Bred all anchor a metro where the median home is $252K.
Where the value tier sits — top 5 counties by home value
| County | Median home value | Median HHI | Price-to-income | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas County | $333,400 | $102,349 | 3.26× | moderate |
| Warren County | $252,800 | $92,990 | 2.72× | affordable |
| Polk County | $248,400 | $81,621 | 3.04× | moderate |
| Madison County | $236,900 | $89,542 | 2.65× | affordable |
| Jasper County | $176,800 | $70,128 | 2.52× | affordable |
How to read the FHFA House Price Index
FHFA HPI is a repeat-sales index — it tracks the price change of the same properties over time, smoothing out new construction and luxury transactions. It's built from the mortgage data the GSEs (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac) already see, which makes it free of MLS survey error and immune to listing-feed gaps.
- 01Repeat-sales method. Tracks the same properties over time, so new construction and luxury transactions don't skew the trend.
- 02Federally sourced. Built from GSE mortgage data — no MLS survey error, no commercial license required to publish.
- 03Slope, not level. Watch the slope of the line, not the absolute index value — a steepening curve is a more reliable buy signal than the level.
The rent ladder
HUD Fair Market Rent by bedroom count, sized against this metro's median household income and benchmarked vs Indiana and the U.S.
Typical 2-bedroom rent
$1,318
/ month · HUD FMR FY 2026
18.8% of median HHI
A typical 2-bedroom in costs the median household 18.8% of their income — 4.5 points below the U.S. average (23.3%) right at Iowa (18.6%).
HUD calls anything above 30% "rent-burdened." This metro sits comfortably under that line, which means tenants can absorb modest rent increases — and landlords have headroom on rent hikes before pushing tenants out of the market.
Fair Market Rent — by bedroom count
| Bedroom | Monthly | Annual | % of median HHI | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 BR | $1,109 | $13.3K | 15.8% | comfortable |
| 2 BR | $1,318 | $15.8K | 18.8% | comfortable |
| 3 BR | $1,794 | $21.5K | 25.6% | moderate |
Why HUD Fair Market Rent matters
FMR is HUD's 40th-percentile rent estimate by bedroom count — refreshed every fiscal year, sourced from Census surveys (not commercial listing data), and used as the cap for Section 8 voucher payments. Three things investors should know:
- 01Defensible benchmark. Federal source, no commercial license required to publish or compare against.
- 02Section 8 ceiling. A property at or below FMR is voucher-eligible — government-paid rent at the FMR cap.
- 03Conservative estimate. 40th percentile means more than half of actual market rents in the metro come in higher.
Labor market direction
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — LAUS (unemployment) + CES (nonfarm employment), benchmarked against the U.S. average.
Unemployment rate
3.3%
BLS LAUS · latest month
Des Moines's labor market is healthy, with unemployment running at 3.3% — 0.7 points below the U.S. metros average (4.0%).
For an investor, tighter unemployment means higher wages, more rental demand, and lower vacancy. The trend chart below shows how the metro's unemployment has moved over the last 30 months.
Unemployment rate
3.3%
Nonfarm jobs
—
Median household income
$84,209
ACS 5-year
How to read the labor market
Two BLS series tell you almost everything you need about a metro's labor market: LAUS (unemployment, refreshed monthly) and CES (nonfarm payroll counts, refreshed monthly). LAUS is the tightness signal; CES is the size and direction signal.
- 01Unemployment is rental demand. Tighter labor markets mean higher wages and lower vacancy — landlords have pricing power when employers are competing for workers.
- 02YoY change is the trend signal. A negative pp YoY change means the labor market tightened over the last year — usually a leading indicator for rent growth.
- 03Nonfarm growth is supply absorption. Positive nonfarm payroll growth absorbs new housing supply and supports the rent + price trajectory together.
What's being built
U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey — trailing 12 months, broken out by structure type, with the YoY change as the directional signal.
Total permits TTM
5,553
Census BPS · trailing 12 months
+34.5% year-over-year
7.80 permits per 1,000 residents
Des Moines pulled 5,553 building permits over the trailing 12 months, a meaningful jump 34.5% year-over-year. That works out to 7.80 permits per 1,000 residents, vs the U.S. metros average of 3.49.
Single-family vs multifamily mix matters: 5+ unit permits are lumpy (developers file for entire projects at once), while single-family permits are smoother and more reliable as a demand signal. The chart below breaks out the monthly mix.
Single family
3,444
trailing 12 months
2–4 unit
150
trailing 12 months
5+ unit
1,959
trailing 12 months
How to read the supply pipeline
Census BPS publishes building permit counts every month at the county level, by structure type. Single-family permits are the smooth signal — they reflect ongoing builder demand. 5+ unit permits are lumpy and project-level — one apartment approval can spike a month.
- 01Permits per 1,000 residents. The size-adjusted comparison number. Above ~5 means the metro is building meaningfully relative to its population; below 2 means supply is tight.
- 02YoY change is the direction. Year-over-year change in TTM permits tells you whether builders are leaning in or pulling back. Watch this number for trend reversals.
- 03Mix matters for cap rates. Heavy 5+ unit permitting tends to compress cap rates; single-family-dominated pipelines preserve them.
All 6 counties, ranked by population
Census Bureau (population, ACS demographics) + Census Building Permits Survey.
How to read it
- 01**Polk County leads with 4,134 TTM permits = 8.38 per 1,000** — Des Moines proper, Ankeny, Urbandale, Pleasant Hill, Altoona, Bondurant, Johnston, Grimes. **74% of the metro pipeline.** Permit YoY **+43.29%**.
- 02**Dallas County** (West Des Moines, Waukee, Adel, Dallas Center, Van Meter) issued **810 permits = 8.07 per 1,000** — the fast-growing affluent western county. MHHI $102,349 (the highest in Iowa). Permit YoY −37.26% (sharp pullback after a 2022-2023 binge).
- 03**Warren County** (Indianola, Carlisle, Norwalk, Cumming) issued **429 permits = 8.14 per 1,000** — the southern bedroom community. Permit YoY +10%.
- 04**Jasper, Madison, Guthrie Counties** are smaller rural counties (76 + 64 + 40 permits) on the metro fringe. Jasper YoY +443% (off a tiny base).
- 05Des Moines runs **7.80 permits per 1,000 residents** — **2.2x the national 3.49**. **Permit YoY +34.5%** strong sustained acceleration.
How to read the map
- 01**Polk County (the urban core) is densest at 8.38 per 1,000** — Des Moines proper, Ankeny (the fastest-growing suburb), Urbandale, Altoona, Pleasant Hill, Johnston, Grimes, Bondurant.
- 02**Warren County (south, Indianola/Norwalk) at 8.14 per 1,000** — the bedroom community along Highway 65 toward Lake Red Rock.
- 03**Dallas County (west, West Des Moines/Waukee) at 8.07 per 1,000** — the affluent corporate-HQ county. MHHI $102K — the highest in Iowa. West Des Moines is the heart of the Principal Financial campus and the Wells Fargo regional hub.
- 04**Jasper, Madison, and Guthrie Counties** are smaller rural counties at the metro edges — Newton (Jasper, former Maytag headquarters), Winterset (Madison, Bridges of Madison County / John Wayne birthplace), Panora (Guthrie).
- 05Polk and Dallas Counties together host the entire **Insurance Alley** — Principal Financial, Nationwide, Wells Fargo, EMC Insurance, FBL Financial, plus the Pioneer Hi-Bred / Corteva research campus.
| # | County | Population | Median HHI | Home value | Permits TTM | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Polk County | 493,378 | $81,621 | $248,400 | 4,134 | +43.3% |
| 2 | Dallas County | 100,367 | $102,349 | $333,400 | 810 | |
| 3 | Warren County | 52,709 | $92,990 | $252,800 | 429 | +10.0% |
| 4 | Jasper County | 37,808 | $70,128 | $176,800 | 76 | +442.9% |
| 5 | Madison County | 16,609 | $89,542 | $236,900 | 64 | |
| 6 | Guthrie County | 10,619 | $79,981 | $163,900 | 40 | +185.7% |
Similar metros nationally
5 metros closest to Des Moines by population and median household income — head-to-head on the metrics that matter for an investor.
Peer set
5
metros nearest by population + HHI
Best in 2 of 3 comparable metrics
Des Moines is closest in size to Madison, Colorado Springs, Boise City, Durham. best in class on Cap rate proxy, Price to income.
The table below ranks every metric — green cells mark the best value in the column, rust cells mark the worst. Des Moines is highlighted as the focal row.
| Metro | Pop | Med HHI | Home value | P/I | Cap proxy | HPI 5y | Permits/1k | Migration | Unemp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
★Des Moines | 0.71M | $84K | $252K | 3.00× | 4.1% | +41.5% | 7.80 | +0.05% | 3.3% |
Madison, WI | 0.68M | $87K | $345K | 3.97× | 3.8% | +53.4% | 10.22 | -0.24% | 2.4% |
Colorado Springs, CO | 0.76M | $87K | $432K | 4.95× | 3.1% | +37.7% | 7.54 | +0.19% | 3.6% |
Boise City, ID | 0.77M | $83K | $434K | 5.25× | 3.0% | +45.7% | 11.86 | +0.65% | 3.2% |
Durham-Chapel Hill, NC | 0.65M | $81K | $359K | 4.44× | 3.7% | +61.4% | 7.29 | -0.04% | 3.1% |
Stockton, CA | 0.78M | $89K | $495K | 5.59× | 2.7% | +34.5% | 3.12 | +0.17% | 6.4% |
How to read this comparison
Peer metros are picked by population + median household income — the closest five matches nationally — so the comparison is apples-to-apples on size and economic class. Sun Belt entrants like Las Vegas and Nashville are included when they fall in range, which is why this peer set spans both the Midwest and the Sun Belt.
- 01Green = best in column. The cell with the most-favorable value for that metric, accounting for whether higher or lower is better.
- 02Rust = worst in column. The cell with the least-favorable value. Combined with the green markers, this is your at-a-glance "where does my metro win and where does it lose."
- 03Cap proxy is the yield lens. Cap rate proxy = (FMR 2BR × 12 × 0.65) ÷ median home value. A first-pass yield filter, not an underwriting number — but it puts the peer set on a single comparable scale.
Where people are moving in from
IRS Statistics of Income — Tax Year 2022. Excludes intra-metro suburban churn.
Net migration
+381
tax returns · IRS SOI · TY 2022
+0.05% of metro population
4,005 from top origin
The IRS data lags by ~2 years (households file taxes the year after they move), but it's the only nationwide county-to-county migration data sourced from administrative records, not survey estimates. The table below shows the top origin counties — the gravitational sources of new residents.
Top origin counties — where new residents are coming from
| Origin county | Tax returns |
|---|---|
| Polk County, IA | 4,005 |
| Dallas County, IA | 2,418 |
| Story County, IA | 1,061 |
| Warren County, IA | 944 |
| Johnson County, IA | 352 |
| Jasper County, IA | 352 |
Who lives in Des Moines
U.S. Census Bureau · American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates · 2019–2023 vintage.
Who lives here
- Median age
- 36.7
- Owner-occupancy
- 69.5%
- Bachelor's+
- 39.1%
Des Moines relatively young Midwest metro: Median age 36.7, 69.5% owner-occupancy 39.1% holding a bachelor's degree or higher. Stable, educated, and mostly homeowner-driven.
The catch: 40.7% of renter households are rent-burdened (paying 30%+ of income on rent) — high enough to flag as a constraint on rent growth even though the headline rent-to-income ratio looks comfortable.
- Median household income
- $84,209
- Median age
- 36.7
- Bachelor's+ degree
- 39.1%
- Owner-occupancy rate
- 69.5%
- Vacancy rate
- 6.2%
- Rent burdened (30%+)
- 40.7%
Data sources
| Metric | Source | Type | Vintage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home prices | FHFA — House Price Index | Index | Q4 2025 |
| Fair market rents | HUD — Fair Market Rents | Administrative | FY 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | BLS — Local Area Unemployment Statistics | Survey | Jan 2026 |
| Nonfarm employment | BLS — Current Employment Statistics | Survey | Jan 2026 |
| Building permits | Census — Building Permits Survey | Survey | Mar 2026 TTM |
| Migration flows | IRS — Statistics of Income, Migration Data | Administrative | Tax Year 2022 |
| Demographics | Census — American Community Survey 5-Year | Survey | 2019–2023 |
| Household income | Census — American Community Survey 5-Year | Survey | 2019–2023 |
Page last refreshed: April 9, 2026