Des Moines is a relatively large city located in the state of Iowa. With a population of 198,688 people and 55 constituent neighborhoods, Des Moines is the largest community in Iowa.

Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Des Moines is neither predominently one or the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Des Moines is a city of sales and office workers, professionals, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Des Moines who work in office and administrative support jobs (20.11%), sales jobs (10.95%), and management occupations (6.78%).

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

One of the benefits of Des Moines is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 17.49 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.

Des Moines Information and Demographics

The overall education level of Des Moines is somewhat higher than in the average US city of 14.96%: 21.84% of adults 25 and older in the city have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Des Moines in 2000 was $19,467, which is upper middle income relative to Iowa and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $77,868 for a family of four.

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

The most common language spoken in Des Moines is English. Some people also speak Spanish.