Ames is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of Iowa. With a population of 50,656 people and 14 constituent neighborhoods, Ames is the 9th largest community in Iowa.

Ames is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 87.45% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Ames is a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Ames who work in teaching (15.21%), office and administrative support jobs (14.34%), and sales jobs (10.17%).

And if you like science, one thing you'll find is that Ames has lots of scientists living in town - whether they be life scientists, physical scientists (like astronomers), or social scientists (like geographers!). So, if you're scientific-minded, you might like it here too.

Also of interest is that Ames has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

Because Ames has a very large number of students who are 18 years or older and in college, it is thought of as a college town. This has a major influence on local Ames lifestyle, entertainment, and culture in general. Life in Ames is very much tied to the academic calendar: when students return from the summer break in the fall, one will notice them out and about, buying groceries, out with friends, and generally getting re-acquainted with each other. In Ames, people study hard and play hard, and there is ample opportunity to do both.

Not only is Ames a city with many college students, but it also retains many recent graduates who are looking to start new careers, creating a very large population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile. That's because Ames is full of single people in their 20s and 30s and who have undergraduate or graduate degrees and are starting careers in professional occupations. This makes Ames a pretty good place for young, educated career starters looking to find many people like themselves, with good opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun.

One of the benefits of Ames is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 15.02 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.

Ames Information and Demographics

If knowledge is power, Ames is a pretty powerful place. 58.60% of the adults in Ames have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 14.96% for all cities and towns.

The per capita income in Ames in 2000 was $18,881, which is upper middle income relative to Iowa and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $75,524 for a family of four.

Ames is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Ames home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Ames is White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Ames include German, Irish, Norwegian, English, Swedish, and Dutch.

The most common language spoken in Ames is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.