You want to walk places
Walkable pockets are concentrated close to downtown and along older commercial corridors. You may trade square footage and garage space for keeping the car parked, older homes, smaller lots, and street parking.
THE DES MOINES METRODes Moines neighborhoods
& suburbs.
Every part of this metro trades something for something else. This is where those tradeoffs get laid out, so you can choose the one you actually want to live with.
Start with your day-to-dayChoose for the life
Choose for the life
you want to live.
Most home searches start with a price and bedroom count. That narrows the list, but it does not tell you whether you will like living there. The questions that decide that are smaller and more specific: your drive, your weekend maintenance, your preferred pace, and whether you want an established street or a new one.
Pick the starting point that sounds most like you.
You are buying your first home
First purchases often come down to how much repair risk you want to carry. Older neighborhoods can offer a lower entry point with more to consider. Newer construction on the edges can cost more up front and ask less of you early on.
You want an older home with character
Beaverdale, Sherman Hill, Drake, and older streets on the south and east sides offer millwork, built-ins, and mature trees. They can also bring sewer lines, foundations, older electrical systems, and roots into the decision. Worth it for many buyers, best approached with open eyes.
You need room to grow
This often comes down to a district, yard, floor plan, and what works on a weekday morning. The suburbs around the metro offer a wide range of newer and established neighborhoods to compare.
You want something newly built
New construction is concentrated in Waukee, Grimes, Bondurant, Ankeny, and the outer edges of Norwalk and Johnston. The biggest decisions happen early: lot, community, builder, and timeline.
You are moving here from somewhere else
Relocating means learning the geography and the tradeoffs at the same time, often on a compressed timeline. Start with the bigger picture, then narrow toward the places that fit the way you live.
City or suburb?
Choose what you are optimizing for.
This is the first real fork. A buyer who works downtown and wants to walk to coffee is solving a different problem than someone who needs a larger floor plan and a quieter street. There is no default answer.
Des Moines proper
Older housing stock, large trees, proximity to downtown and the airport, more architectural variety, and a wide range of homes. The specific street often matters more than any broad label.
The suburbs
More new construction, larger lots, consolidated districts, and more predictable resale patterns in many areas. You may pay more per square foot and drive farther for it.
The four most compared
Des Moines, West Des Moines, Ankeny, and Waukee.
These four come up in nearly every relocation conversation. Here is the honest shape of each.
Character, proximity, and the widest range of housing. Best for buyers who want older homes, a shorter drive, or a more city-connected rhythm.
Established suburban amenities with older neighborhoods closer in and newer development farther west.
A northern option with substantial newer housing and plenty of inventory to compare.
Heavy new construction and a west-side location for buyers willing to trade more drive time for newer options.
Explore the communities
Get a feel for the metro.
Market context
Where you buy and when you buy are different decisions.
Neighborhood choice is a long-term decision. Market timing is a this-year decision. Use these guides to keep those conversations separate.
Answers for the decisions ahead.
What’s the best neighborhood in Des Moines?
There is not one answer. The useful question is which tradeoff you want: an older home with character and more maintenance, or something newer with less upkeep. Closer in with a shorter drive, or farther out with a larger lot.
Is it better to buy in Des Moines or in the suburbs?
It depends on what you are optimizing for. Des Moines offers older housing stock, more architectural variety, and walkable pockets. The suburbs offer more new construction, larger lots, and consolidated school districts in many areas.
Which Des Moines suburbs are growing?
Waukee, Grimes, Bondurant, and Ankeny are active areas for newer construction. Growth brings more inventory and new amenities, along with construction traffic and neighborhoods that are still filling in.
How do I find the school district for an address?
Attendance boundaries can change and do not follow city lines. We can help you confirm the current district and point you to the Iowa Department of Education report card so you can review the information yourself.
What is the Des Moines tax abatement?
Tax abatement may be available for qualifying improvements in designated parts of the city. It can change the year-to-year cost of a purchase, so it is worth checking before you rule out an area.
Why buyers work with Natasha
Local knowledge, connected to your whole move.
Natasha Ratliff has spent 11+ years working across the Des Moines metro and holds the CRS and SRS designations. Her work connects new construction decisions with selling and buying at the same time, where the timing is often the hardest part.
Natasha leads the selling strategy. Ken stays focused on the next home, so your move does not get split into two competing plans.
Meet Natasha and Ken →“Natasha is knowledgeable, passionate about her job, compassionate for her clients and goes above and beyond. She'll be there every step of the way to make sure you are informed and satisfied!”Deborah Haws, Realtor.com testimonial
Still narrowing it down?
Tell us what your days need to look like, then we will help you focus on the parts of the metro that fit.