Ames

Population & Demographics

Ames, IA

Ames is home to 67,669 people. Explore its demographics, housing, and economy — plus how its 24,323 resident workers commute each day.

IowaCensus ACS 5-Year · LODES 2023
67,669
people
Population

67,669 residents

Median age 23.3 · U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year (2024).

Ames population & demographics

Who lives in Ames — population, age, housing, and income, from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Population
67,669
Median age
23.3yrs
Median household income
$60,991
Median home value
$277,400
Median gross rent
$1,023/mo
Bachelor’s degree or higher
65.8%
Poverty rate
25.4%

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 Ames

How Ames 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).

White76.8%
Asian9.3%
Hispanic or Latino5.1%
Two or more races4.4%
Black3.8%
Some other race0.3%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander0.1%
American Indian / Alaska Native0.1%

Race across Ames

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 Ames.

Ames at a glance
Employed Residents
24,323
Fewer than the city’s total population
Median home–work distance
29.9mi
Straight-line, not road distance
Work Locally
52.0%
Share working within the area
Work from home
12.1%
Residents who work from home (ACS)
Top destination outside city
Des Moines
Excludes local — most work in-city

These figures are for Ames 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 Ames 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.

88
Commute Score

88 / 100

How short the typical commute is here, on an absolute 0–100 scale (higher is shorter). How it’s calculated.

Ames

24,323 commutes, one dot at a time

Ames

Where 24,323 workers commute

Each dot ≈ 75 workers

Where residents work

Top destinations for people who live in Ames, by worker count.

1Ames0.0 mi12,650
2Des Moines30.3 mi1,681
3West Des Moines32.4 mi887
4Ankeny20.7 mi850
5Nevada9.4 mi639
6Boone13.0 mi377
7Urbandale28.0 mi366
8Cedar Rapids101.0 mi304

Who commutes in

Top origin places for workers who travel into Ames.

1Ames0.0 mi12,650
2Boone13.0 mi1,431
3Ankeny20.7 mi1,278
4Des Moines30.3 mi1,268
5Nevada9.4 mi1,141
6West Des Moines32.4 mi746
7Urbandale28.0 mi534
8Huxley9.3 mi526

Top industries

The sectors that employ Ames’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%.

Bar length = each sector’s share of all local jobs (0–100%)
EDEducational Services24.0%
HCHealth Care and Social Assistance13.7%
RTRetail Trade11.6%
AFAccommodation and Food Services10.7%
MFManufacturing8.4%
PAPublic Administration5.9%
PTProfessional, Scientific, and Technical Services5.8%
ADAdministrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services3.9%
COConstruction3.2%
Connectivity

Internet options for Ames

The biggest home-internet providers in the area — tap any to compare local plans.

13 providers · 4 with fiber
Speed availabilityshare of homes a plan reaches
1 Gbps~all homes
2 Gbps95%
5 Gbps95%
8 Gbps
See all internet providers in Ames

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).