Iowa’s biggest city and state capitol packs a punch
The center of the American heartland, Des Moines is known widely as the first campaign stop for U.S. presidential candidates every four years. However, those who live here say there’s much more to see in the capital of the Hawkeye state.
One of the biggest draws for new residents is the extensive trail system, which links communities within Des Moines to parks and restaurants and connects bikers and runners to the greater Iowa area trail system. Along the Des Moines River, residents convene at year-round events downtown, including a celebrated festival of the arts and several cultural food and music events, as well as an LGBTQ+ pride festival. Sports fans can also enjoy Iowa Cubs baseball games in the summer and Des Moines Buccaneers hockey games in winter. “People are always pleasantly surprised by how much there is to do here,” says Alex Wilson, public relations manager for Catch Des Moines, the city's tourism bureau. “People aren’t expecting such variety and diversity in events and restaurants either.”
Archaeological discoveries date Des Moines back at least as far as 1300 A.D. Before settlers arrived in the area, it was home to the Ioway and Baxoje tribes, and later, the Sauk and Meskwaki. The construction of Fort Des Moines in 1851 and subsequent railroad boom planted the seeds for metropolitan expansion. One of the earliest industries in Des Moines was coal mining, but in more recent years, Des Moines has made its name as a hub for insurance companies, agribusiness and bioscience. In 2023, Forbes ranked Des Moines as the No. 1 place for young professionals. “Des Moines’ industries are fairly stable,” says Ryan Rohlf, a broker associate for the dsmSOLD Team at Keller Williams Legacy Group, who has sold homes in Des Moines since 2017. “People will always need to eat, and most want insurance as well, so it leaves people relatively sheltered from layoffs.” The city is also home base for several public and private colleges, as well as the UnityPoint Health and MercyOne medical systems.
Downtown Des Moines features office buildings, residential options, dining, and entertainment.
A great walk, jog, or bike ride often starts at the Center Trails Access point in Westwood.
The Des Moines Arts Festival draws thousands of people annually to Western Gateway Park.
Principal Park is home to the Chicago Cubs' affiliate, the Iowa Cubs.
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Award-winning park system in Des Moines
Des Moines Parks and Recreation manages more than 4,000 acres of parks. In 2022, it won a gold medal award from the National Recreation and Park Association. Looking forward, the city has pledged to establish parks within a ten-minute walk of every home in the city. “We meet with the 60 neighborhood organizations to stay in tune with the needs and wants of Des Moines residents,” Richmond says. “We also look for ways to make individual parks feel special while reflecting the unique character of each neighborhood.”
For example, the city recently allocated funding to improve Macrae Park south of downtown near the Indianaola Hills neighborhood. The parks department preserved existing features, including a grove of mature oak trees that stand at the entrance to the park. It also carefully renovated the W.C. Walker Shelter, a stone-built event space built by the WPA program in the 1930s. The department added a nature playground where kids can scamper across logs as parents and guardians watch from benches and chairs carved from salvaged trees. It also dredged the pond and stocked it with new bluegill and largemouth bass, as well as new components to improve water quality. In addition to parks, the department maintains trails around the city, which connect communities and tie into Iowa’s larger trail system. “We work closely with traffic and transportation to give input on adding on-street bike routes as well,” Richmond says.
Two other notable parks that aren’t part of the city’s network are Lauridsen Skatepark, the largest open skate park in the United States, and Water Works Park, a 1,500-acre swath of land along the Raccoon River. Lauridsen recently became certified by USA Skateboarding as a competition-ready park, which city officials hope will lead to exciting competitions and events. Water Works offers additional hiking trails, an amphitheater and a biergarten, which hosts the seasonal concert series: Local Bands, Brews and Bikes. And plant life thrives year-round under the geodesic dome at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden—whether that’s summer blooms or poinsettias surrounded by holiday lights.
EMC Overlook at MacRae Park is a beautiful spot to take photos of Des Moines.
Fishermen young and old enjoy casting their line into the pond at Greenwood-Ashworth Park.
Lauridsen Skate Park in Des Moines is the largest outdoor skatepark in the country.
The bike trails around Gray's Lake Park are a huge draw for the Greater South Side.
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Des Moines area housing trends
Median home prices in Des Moines are currently around $200,000; they rose 7% in the last year. More in-demand areas such as Southwestern Hills and East Village generally have higher list values; Southwestern Hills runs around $350,000 for single-family homes, and East Village is closer to $550,000 for new-construction townhouses and condos. Those looking for more affordable homes can find neighborhoods of single-and multifamily properties on the eastern side of downtown as well as farther from the city where listing medians are below $200,000. “Overall, Des Moines has a much more affordable cost of living than comparably sized cities,” Rohlf says.
Many beautiful two-story homes line the streets on the north side of Southwestern Hills.
Condos in Downtown Des Moines come in all shapes and sizes.
The Beaverdale neighborhood is famous for its "Beaverdale Bricks", small historic bungalows.
Tudor Revival homes are a popular and iconic style in Salisbury Oaks.
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Des Moines area festivals and cultural offerings
More than 200,000 attendees head downtown to the free Des Moines Arts Festival each June for live music, juried art shows and artisan demonstrations. In 2022, the festival earned the Silver Grand Pinnacle Award from the International Festivals and Events Association. Downtown serves as an event hotspot year-round, too, with local and national acts playing at venues like Wooly’s. Residents can attend the World Food Festival and the Iowa State Fair in August each year. CelebrAsian—an Asian cultural festival—showcases the talents of local Asian chefs and dancers. In addition, PrideFest, an East Village staple for more than 40 years, brings crowds of at least 40,000 to Des Moines.
Locals can find year-round offerings at the Des Moines Art Museum and the Italian-American Cultural Center of Iowa. The museum features buildings designed by three renowned architects, Eliel Saarinen, I.M. Pei and Richard Meier. It also offers art classes for adults, as well as for children as young as three. At the Italian-American center, locals may take cooking lessons, learn folk dances and practice speaking Italian.
The Des Moines Arts Festival draws vendors and visitors from all over the Midwest.
Every year, more than a million Iowans pour into Valley High Manor for the Iowa State Fair.
Des Moines' Downtown Farmers Market is one of the best and largest in the country.
The annual World Food & Music Festival spans a long summer weekend in Downtown Des Moines.
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Des Moines’ clever restaurant concepts
Throughout the metro area, restauranteurs continue launching new-concept options and striving to source ingredients as locally as possible. Many of these sit door-to-door in East Village, a collection of walkable shops, brunch spots and bars set against the gold dome of the Iowa State Capital building. To the west, Ingersoll Avenue is filled with one-of-a-kind stores and galleries where locals can browse for inspiration or pick up unique gifts. Residents may also travel to West Des Moines to explore Historic Valley Junction and other shopping hotspots. One of four shopping malls in Des Moines, Jordan Creek Town Center includes a movie theater and more than 100 shops.
Iowa is the nation’s leading pork producer, and residents can easily find a place to sit down for a plate-long pork tenderloin in Des Moines. Fong’s Pizza is another area staple, with a Crab Rangoon pizza so popular that similar pies stock the shelves at regional Hy-Vee grocery stores. Fareway Meat Market and Fresh Thyme Market join Hy-Vee as the city’s most prominent food store options—though from May through October, locals may source their produce straight from hundreds of Iowa farmers at the Downtown Farmers Market.
The "wide as the plate" pork tenderloins are an Iowa staple, and the best are at Smitty's.
The patio of Big Grove Brewery fills up most nights and hosts weekly events.
Fong's Pizza is famous for their crab rangoon pizza, a must-try when in Des Moines.
The Downtown Farmers Market happens every Saturday morning from May through October.
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20-minute drives and bar hopping on bikes
Many Des Moines residents swap four wheels for two on their trips throughout the city. “Iowa is a big biking state,” says Darla Willett-Rohrssen, an Iowa Realty agent who has lived in the area for more than two decades. “On the weekends, colleagues will go bar hopping on their bikes.” Trails extend beyond the downtown sector to each side of the city, tracing major roads and leading through recreational areas.
According to the city of Des Moines website, the average commute time is approximately 19 minutes. In contrast, most recent census information shows that the average commute time in the United States is longer than 27 minutes. “It’s one of the reasons that people are drawn to Des Moines. You can get almost anywhere in Des Moines in under 20 minutes, even from the suburbs,” Rohlf says. Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority buses also run throughout the city, operating along 20 regular routes and connecting residents to malls and schools. The Des Moines International Airport, on the western side of Des Moines, offers nonstop service to more than 30 domestic locations. A brand-new terminal is in the works, and though construction will continue for the foreseeable future, once complete the project will streamline security processes and add five new aircraft gates.
The Bill Riley Trail at Greenwood - Ashworth Park is popular among Linden Heights residents.
Waverly Park residents are never too far from anything with Interstate 235 so close by.
North of Grand residents have access to the DART bus system, giving them access to the city.
Des Moines International Airport is the jumping off point for all flights from Des Moines.
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Des Moines student body programs and area colleges
The Des Moines Independent School District serves over 30,000 students from prekindergarten through 12th grade and scores a C from Niche. The district has provided free breakfast and lunch to all students regardless of family income since 2022. At East High School, a program called Sisters 4 Success was developed in 2002 to give young Black women the tools to become confident leaders; the initiative has since expanded to the entire district. A similar program, known as Brother 2 Brother, now exists for male students as well. Parents who wish to send their children to private schools can select from 12 area options, including Dowling Catholic High School, the largest private school in the city.
Des Moines is about 35 miles south of Iowa State University in Ames. Those looking to continue their education also have several local colleges to choose from. Drake University, a private university with around 3,000 students, offers more than 140 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Grand View University, which has 40 majors to choose from, is located on the city’s east side. Future Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine attend Des Moines University, located in the neighboring city of West Des Moines. Students in many local public schools complete dual-enrollment courses through Des Moines Area Community College, allowing them to earn associate degrees while working toward their high school diplomas. The college has a central location in downtown Des Moines and five other in-person campuses in surrounding cities.
Edmunds Elementary sits just to the north of Downtown Des Moines.
Roosevelt High School is where Waveland Park students finish their primary education.
Grand View University resides in the northeast corner of Union Park.
Drake University is the namesake of the neighborhood.
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Des Moines’ future planning and concerns
The Federal Emergency Management Agency rated the highest environmental hazards for Des Moines as cold waves and hail. “The city is well prepared for snow and winter weather, however,” Rohlf says. “Whenever there is a storm coming, they pre-treat roads, and people are pretty comfortable driving in snow.” Those living downtown get to their destinations indoors using the Skywalk: a network of glass walkways connecting more than 50 buildings with major employers, entertainment centers and apartments.
According to Des Moines Police Department data, 1583 violent crimes and 7097 property crimes occurred in 2023, both increases from 2022 statistics. About 41.1 instances of crime occur per every 1000 citizens in Des Moines. Out of all cases reported in 2023, the highest percentage were reported from northeast and north side neighborhoods, according to the City of Des Moines’ interactive Law Enforcement Response Map. Crime prevention programs in the city include Safe Haven For Seniors, a three-phase certification program that equips retirement and independent living communities with crime prevention training, and the Disposal of Medicines and Prescription Drugs program, a resident resource for discarding medications in a quick, environmentally safe manner.
The city of Des Moines has set several improvement plans into place, including ADAPT DSM, a response to climate change. This initiative pushes for a 28% reduction in emissions by 2025, and by 2050, the goal is to have zero net greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, a Des Moines Food Security Task Force was established to reduce food insecurity; they provide educational tools to teach residents farming and foraging skills and have added community fridges to some area libraries. The $125 million Iowa Confluence Water Trails project will take tourism to the city's major waterways by changing their topographies. A beginner-friendly whitewater section of the Raccoon River will be accessible from Fleur Drive, and beside Scott Avenue and Center Street, Des Moines River dams will be renovated to incorporate whitewater features and rock walls. These areas are slated to be completed by 2026 and are anticipated to increase tourism in addition to providing valuable amenities to locals.
Mission Statement: I am dedicated to making Iowa's housing dreams come true. Background: Born and raised in NW Iowa, my childhood was filled with the idyllic experiences that come with growing up in the Midwest. I attended local schools, participated in community events, and enjoyed the simple pleasures of rural life. As I grew older, I chose to stay in Iowa to raise my family, passing on my love for the region to my children. They too grew up experiencing the warmth and close-knit communities in Central Iowa, benefiting from the same strong educational system and community values that I had cherished. A 15 years ago, I decided to explore new opportunities and moved away from Iowa. This time away allowed me to gain new perspectives and experiences. However, the charm and deep connection to Central Iowa never left my heart. in 2023, I returned to Central Iowa, driven by my unwavering affection for the area. My deep knowledge of the region, combined with my professional experience, makes me an invaluable resource for anyone looking to buy or sell a home in Central Iowa. My return is a testament to my commitment and passion for my home state, and I am eager to help others find their place in the communities I love so much.
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