Cost of Living
per year
per month
How West Des Moines's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in West Des Moines?
Your $100,000 in West Des Moines has the same purchasing power as $111,957 in the average US city. You'd need $11,957 less here to maintain that standard of living.
Demographics and workforce data from the US Census ACS 5-Year.
bachelor's or higher
Climate, safety, and walkability indicators.
See a side-by-side breakdown of cost of living, housing, and salaries.
Popular comparisons
Sorted by affordability — most affordable first.
Within 10 points of West Des Moines's cost index of 89, sorted by closest match.
These are the reasons people actually move to West Des Moines, ordered roughly by what shows up loudest in the data. Living costs come in under the US baseline and a higher-income labor market than the national norm lead, plus 5 more things worth knowing — the rest unpacked below.
The composite cost-of-living index lands at 89, a comfortable 11% under the US norm. It shows up most clearly in housing, which is where the gap to coastal metros usually opens up. Median rent in town runs about $1,153/mo against a typical household income of $82,345, which is the kind of ratio that leaves room to save.
The typical household in West Des Moines pulls in $82,345 — comfortably above the US median. Combined with the cost of living here, the income-to-expense ratio works out better than a quick look at either number in isolation would suggest.
At about 2.8% unemployment, West Des Moines's labor market is running on the tight side. Easier to land a role, easier to negotiate, easier to leave one job for a better one — the practical things that matter when you're actually looking.
Reported crime in West Des Moines comes in around 1,984 per 100,000 — under the national baseline of about 3,500. Worth digging into specific neighborhoods before settling on one, but the city-level picture is on the safer side.
Average AQI in West Des Moines comes in around 37, well into the "good" band. Clean air isn't a thing you appreciate until you've lived somewhere it wasn't — and this is the side of that line you want to be on.
Average commute time in West Des Moines runs around 18 minutes one-way — short enough that it doesn't restructure your day. Compared to the 45-plus-minute commutes that are normal in major metros, the difference adds up to a real lifestyle gap.
West Des Moines has a college-educated share of about 54% among adults 25+, which is higher than the national norm. It shows up in the local job mix, in the school district's reputation, and in the kind of conversations you have at the coffee shop.
Reasons are pulled from West Des Moines's actual data — Census ACS, BLS, BEA, NOAA, EPA AQS, FBI, and Walk Score. We don't list positives that aren't supported by the numbers, which is why different cities show different sections.
West Des Moines does winter the real way. Averages around 17°F keep snow on the ground for weeks at a time, and lakes and rivers tend to freeze hard enough to walk on.
Properly cold. West Des Moines's winter sits around 17°F on average — and that's the average, meaning plenty of nights drop well below zero. People here own gear.
Reliably warm. West Des Moines's summer averages around 84°F, the kind of heat where you remember to leave the house before noon for outdoor things and accept that the back of your shirt will be wet by lunchtime.
Zone 7, give or take a half-zone. West Des Moines's typical winter low puts it in that band on the USDA Hardiness map, which is what nurseries label plants against. Use Zone 7 as your starting filter; the USDA's interactive map is more precise for borderline cases.
Roughly 928 feet (283 m). That's modest elevation — comparable to most inland-Midwest and Southern cities.
The headline number is reassuring. West Des Moines's reported incident rate of about 1,984 per 100,000 is comfortably below the US norm of around 3,500 per 100k. Specific neighborhoods always vary, but the broader picture is on the safer side.
West Des Moines is a genuinely affordable city by US standards. The composite index sits at 89 versus the 100 national baseline — about 11% cheaper overall, with housing doing most of the heavy lifting.
West Des Moines's Walk Score is 8/100, firmly in the car-required tier. The layout assumes you'll drive to the grocery store, drive to work, drive everywhere.
As a rule of thumb, plan on about $62,524 to live in West Des Moines the way a $70,000 earner lives in a typical US city. The math gets less forgiving the lower you go below that. Median rent in West Des Moines runs about $1,153/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.