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Place dossier plate
SheetIA-AMES-IA · Ames, IA 66,112 pop · income 35th pct · 27 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Ames
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Ames on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Waterloo · lowest
56,344
Waterloo · lowest
56,344 median HH income
38.4% of the leader · rank #1
Panama · near
60,096
Panama · near
60,096 median HH income
41.0% of the leader · rank #2
Boyd · near
60,096
Boyd · near
60,096 median HH income
41.0% of the leader · rank #3
Armona · near
60,100
Armona · near
60,100 median HH income
41.0% of the leader · rank #4
Ames · this city
60,102
Ames · this city
60,102 median HH income
41.0% of the leader · rank #5
Sale Creek · near
60,109
Sale Creek · near
60,109 median HH income
41.0% of the leader · rank #6
Alpharetta · highest
146,581
Alpharetta · highest
146,581 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Ames on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 66,112.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Ames - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Ames places in the 35th percentile for household income and the 41st percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
35th
percentile, household income
58th
percentile, home value
11th
percentile, median rent
41st
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Ames, IA
Ames is a small city in Iowa, home to 66,112 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Ames report a median income of $60,102 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 5.2%. Home values in Ames run a median of $263,800, and the median resident age is 23.3 years. 63.5% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 60.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 97 residential building permits were authorized in Ames (Construction Slowdown), down 71% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Ames reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1653.8 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 48.0°F with 38.1 inches of precipitation per year and 27.3 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Iowa run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Iowa at 87.8 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $989 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $212 across Iowa, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. The average commute for Ames workers runs 14.2 minutes, with 65.3% driving alone and 11.3% working from home. Natural-hazard exposure scores 39.7 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Ames's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from population change to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to climate and hazard context to reported crime to schools and households to housing and income to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Ames, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Is Ames growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1,723 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 97 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 65.3%. The reported mean trip to work is 14.2 minutes.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Which cities make useful reference points for Ames?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Iowa, the closest population matches are Waterloo (66,947 residents, $56,344 income); Council Bluffs (62,564 residents, $64,092 income); West Des Moines (69,893 residents, $84,925 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Novi, MI (66,224 residents); Oshkosh, WI (66,247 residents); Conway, AR (66,288 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
PlainCities matches 27 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Ames?
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 48.0°F, with 38.1 inches of precipitation and 27.3 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Iowa is 39.7 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
39.7
Annual precipitation
38.1 in
Mean temperature
48.0°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1653.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 27% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Total reported rate
1653.8
Violent rate
148.3
Property rate
1505.5
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 8 public schools within the city match. 63.5% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Poverty estimate
5.2%
Bachelor's degree+
63.5%
Matched public schools
8
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Ames?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 5.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
4.4×
Home value
$263,800
Household income
$60,102
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Below median income · poverty 5.2% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
87.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Iowa average
B-
City profile score · Ames, IA
66/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Bachelor's+ share A+
63.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living A+
87.8 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Poverty rate C+
5.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime C
148 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$60,102
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Ames profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 94/100 (A+) · 63.5%
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Poverty rate: 64/100 (C+) · 5.2%
Violent crime: 59/100 (C) · 148 /100k
Household income: 35/100 (F) · $60,102
Where Ames sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Ames's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Ames highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Ames, IA (this city): home $263,800, crime 1,654/100k
Novi, MI : home $399,100, crime 755/100k
Oshkosh, WI : home $168,400, crime 1,684/100k
Conway, AR : home $234,600, crime 2,571/100k
Alpharetta, GA : home $605,700, crime 1,401/100k
Queen Creek, AZ : home $576,600, crime 941/100k
Waterloo, IA : home $150,200, crime 2,921/100k
Council Bluffs, IA : home $164,300, crime 2,873/100k
West Des Moines, IA : home $286,300, crime 1,879/100k
Ankeny, IA : home $311,300, crime 1,188/100k
Dubuque, IA : home $193,100, crime 1,836/100k
Iowa City, IA : home $273,600, crime 1,995/100k
How does Ames compare to other US cities?
Here's how Ames stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income35% higher than other cities
Home value58% pricier than other cities
Median rent11% pricier than other cities
Safety41% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Iowa and the picture shifts: Ames ranks #105 of 141 Iowa cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Ames against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Iowa only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Iowa-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Ames near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Ames ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Ames only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#535 of 845
37th percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#58 of 849
93rd percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#470 of 858
45th percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#6 of 858
99th percentile in Iowa
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Iowa only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
35th percentile nationally for median household income · 41st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Ames's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Ames's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Ames's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$263,80042nd percentilemore affordable than 42% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Ames's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,741 of 15,516
More affordable than 24% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#382 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 4.4×, Ames sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,741 of 15,516 and #382 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$60,102Ames, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Ames, IA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Ames, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)63.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)5.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)60.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
66,112
Median Income
$60,102
Median Home Value
$263,800
Median Age
23.3
Poverty Rate
5.2%
Labor force participation
60.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
63.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1653.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
148.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1505.5
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
48.0°F
Annual Precipitation
38.1"
Annual Snowfall
27.3"
Schools
Total Schools
8
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Ames's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
66,497 residents
2021
67,021 residents
2022
67,256 residents
2023
68,136 residents
2024
68,381 residents
2025
68,220 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
97
housing units authorized
Single-Family
59
detached homes
Multifamily
38
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
338
63
275
$41.2M
2020
99
88
11
$29.2M
2021
201
91
110
$42.5M
2022
105
71
34
$34.4M
2023
96
46
50
$32.9M
2024
97
59
38
$35.9M
Permit volume decreased 71% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
14.2 minutes
Drive Alone
65.3%
Carpool
7.7%
Public Transit
5.8%
Walk
7.9%
Work from Home
11.3%
Other
2.0%
Based on 34,529 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Iowa statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $212
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Iowa at $212 (electricity about $95 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are Iowa statewide averages, not a meter reading for Ames. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Iowa's BEA cost-of-living index is 87.8 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Ames is $989/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Iowa statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 39.7 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Iowa statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Ames sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Ames compares to similar-size Iowa cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.