Communities of the Des Moines Metro: A Complete List

The Des Moines metropolitan area encompasses a collection of cities, towns, and unincorporated communities spread across multiple Iowa counties, each with distinct municipal governments, population sizes, and service structures. Understanding which communities fall within the metro's boundaries matters for residents, planners, and policymakers coordinating regional services. The Des Moines Metro Authority home page provides a broader orientation to the region, while this page focuses specifically on the defined roster of communities and how they are classified. Boundary questions carry real consequences for regional planning decisions, intergovernmental agreements, and federal funding eligibility.

Definition and scope

The Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and encompasses 5 Iowa counties: Polk, Dallas, Warren, Madison, and Guthrie (OMB Bulletin No. 23-01). Polk County anchors the MSA and contains the city of Des Moines itself — Iowa's most populous city and state capital.

Within that federal boundary, the metro contains more than 40 incorporated municipalities, ranging from major cities with populations exceeding 80,000 to small incorporated towns with fewer than 500 residents. The term "Des Moines metro" is used in at least two distinct senses:

For a detailed discussion of how population figures are distributed across this geography, the Des Moines Metro Population page provides county-level and city-level breakdowns.

How it works

Iowa's municipal structure classifies incorporated places by population into cities (the standard designation under Iowa Code) regardless of whether colloquial usage calls them towns or suburbs. Every incorporated community maintains its own elected city council, adopts its own budget, and holds zoning authority within its limits — though regional coordination occurs through bodies like DMAMPO and the Des Moines Metropolitan Wastewater Reclamation Authority.

The major communities within the metro, organized by relative scale, include:

  1. Des Moines — Principal city; 2020 Census population of 214,237 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Decennial Census)
  2. West Des Moines — Second-largest city in the metro; major employment and retail center
  3. Ankeny — One of Iowa's fastest-growing cities; located in Polk County north of Des Moines
  4. Urbandale — Northwest Polk County; shares borders with Des Moines and West Des Moines
  5. Johnston — Northern Polk County; home to significant corporate headquarters
  6. Waukee — Dallas County; among Iowa's highest-growth municipalities in the 2010–2020 decade
  7. Clive — Fully landlocked by other municipalities; densely developed inner suburb
  8. Altoona — Eastern Polk County; adjacent to Prairie Meadows and a distinct employment hub
  9. Norwalk — Warren County; southern suburban growth corridor
  10. Grimes — Northwestern Polk County; rapid residential development since 2010
  11. Windsor Heights — Completely surrounded by Des Moines; one of Iowa's smallest full-service cities
  12. Pleasant Hill — Eastern Polk County; separate incorporated city distinct from Des Moines

Smaller incorporated places within the 5-county MSA include Bondurant, Carlisle, Cumming, De Soto, Elkhart, Indianola (Warren County seat), Minburn, Panora (Guthrie County seat), Perry, Polk City, Runnells, Stuart, Winterset (Madison County seat), and Woodward, among others.

Common scenarios

Residents and administrators encounter community classification questions in at least 3 recurring contexts:

Mailing address vs. municipal jurisdiction: A property may carry a Des Moines mailing address while lying within the city limits of Urbandale, Clive, or another municipality. Postal addresses are assigned by the U.S. Postal Service independently of municipal boundaries, creating frequent confusion about which city government provides services.

School district overlap: School district boundaries in the metro do not align with municipal boundaries. The Des Moines Public Schools district serves portions of Des Moines, Windsor Heights, and unincorporated Polk County simultaneously. Residents of Ankeny live within a separate Ankeny Community School District. The Des Moines Metro Education System page maps these distinctions in detail.

Annexation and boundary changes: Iowa cities can annex adjacent unincorporated territory through processes governed by Iowa Code Chapter 368. Rapid-growth communities like Ankeny and Waukee have expanded their city limits substantially since 2000, regularly redrawing the map of which addresses fall within which municipal jurisdiction.

Decision boundaries

Not every community in the Des Moines region belongs to the metro under every applicable definition. Three distinctions govern classification:

Incorporated vs. unincorporated: Unincorporated communities — areas with a recognized place name but no municipal government — appear on maps but hold no separate governmental standing. Examples in the metro fringe include communities within unincorporated Dallas or Warren County that receive county rather than city services.

MSA inclusion vs. exclusion: OMB's MSA boundary, last updated in 2023, determines which counties are statistically grouped with Des Moines for federal reporting. Madison and Guthrie counties are included in the current 5-county MSA but are less densely connected to the urban core than Polk or Dallas. Communities in those counties — such as Winterset or Panora — are technically metro communities under the federal definition while remaining distinctly rural in character.

Metro vs. micropolitan: Iowa has separate metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas. Ames, located in Story County roughly 35 miles north of Des Moines, is its own metropolitan statistical area and is not part of the Des Moines MSA despite geographic proximity and economic linkages. The Des Moines Metro vs. Other Iowa Metros page examines where those boundaries fall and why.

Regional planning participation adds a further dimension: some communities adjacent to the MSA participate voluntarily in DMAMPO transportation planning or other intergovernmental agreements, functionally integrating them into metro coordination frameworks without altering their federal statistical classification. The Des Moines Metro Intergovernmental Agreements page documents which communities hold such arrangements and under what authority.

References

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