West Des Moines is a medium-sized city located in the state of Iowa. With a population of 46,300 people and seven constituent neighborhoods, West Des Moines is the tenth largest community in Iowa.

West Des Moines is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 90.09% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, West Des Moines is a city of sales and office workers, professionals, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in West Des Moines who work in office and administrative support jobs (15.73%), sales jobs (14.72%), and management occupations (12.71%).

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

West Des Moines, while not large, also appears to be attractive to some younger, educated professionals, who help shape the character of the city.

In addition to being popular with young singles, West Des Moines is also home to many people who can be described as "urban sophisticates," which are people who are not only wealthy and employed in professional occupations, but highly educated to boot. Urban sophisticates have urbane tastes - whether they reside in a big or small city, a suburb, or a little town. Urban sophisticates support bookstores, quality clothing stores, enjoy luxury travel, and in big cities, they are truly the patrons of the arts, attending and supporting institutions such as opera, symphony, ballet, and theatre.

Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 17.96 minutes getting to work every day.

West Des Moines Information and Demographics

If knowledge is power, West Des Moines is a pretty powerful place. 48.47% of the adults in West Des Moines 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 West Des Moines in 2000 was $31,405, which is wealthy relative to Iowa and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $125,620 for a family of four.

The people who call West Des Moines home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in West Des Moines is White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in West Des Moines include German, Irish, English, Norwegian, Dutch, Italian, and Swedish.

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