Population & Demographics
Des Moines, IA
Des Moines is home to 212,421 people. Explore its demographics, housing, and economy — plus how its 101,141 resident workers commute each day.
212,421 residents
Median age 34.6 · U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year (2024).
Des Moines population & demographics
Who lives in Des Moines — population, age, housing, and income, from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 2024 5-Year Estimates. Values shown as “—” are suppressed or unavailable for this place.
Race & ethnicity in Des Moines
How Des Moines breaks down by race and ethnicity — each bar is that group’s share of the population, from the U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year (2024).
Race across Des Moines
Each dot is a group of people, placed in their 2020 Census block and colored by race or ethnicity — the pattern shows where groups live across Des Moines.
These figures are for Des Moines proper — the Census place within its city limits — not the surrounding metro area. Metro-wide totals you’ll see elsewhere are larger because they bundle in neighboring cities and suburbs.
How Des Moines commutes
Every dot is a worker moving between home and job. Trace where the area pulls people in from — and where its residents head each day.
75 / 100
How short the typical commute is here, on an absolute 0–100 scale (higher is shorter). How it’s calculated.
Des Moines
101,141 commutes, one dot at a time
Des Moines
Where 101,141 workers commute
Where residents work
Top destinations for people who live in Des Moines, by worker count.
Who commutes in
Top origin places for workers who travel into Des Moines.
Top industries
The sectors that employ Des Moines’s workforce. Each bar is scaled to that sector’s share of all local jobs — the top sectors shown don’t add up to 100%.
Internet options for Des Moines
The biggest home-internet providers in the area — tap any to compare local plans.
FindBetterInternet is a CensusFlow partner site — we link out so you can compare local plans, and CensusFlow’s Census data stays independent. Provider data is from the FCC National Broadband Map (satellite + fixed wireless excluded).