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The median home value in Des Moines, IA is $212,006 as of 2026-07-31, down 0.12% from a year earlier.
Median Home Value
$212,006
Year-over-Year
-0.12%
Population
209,245
Des Moines ranks #40 of 72 Iowa cities tracked here by median home value, and sits 2.0% below the state's city median of $216,316. It sits in Polk County, where the county-wide median is $283,019.
Median household income in Des Moines is $65,932, so the typical home value is about 3.2× annual household income. This is a simple price-to-income benchmark rather than a monthly payment estimate; it does not account for mortgage rates, down payments, taxes or insurance.
Household income comes from the U.S. Census Bureau's ACS 5-Year Estimates, table B19013 (how the affordability measure works).
Des Moines police recorded a violent crime rate of 703 per 100,000 residents in 2024 — higher than most cities that report to the FBI. Property crime runs at 3,126 per 100,000.
Reported by the city's own police department to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program (what this covers).
People often call this an average home price, but the figure shown here is Zillow's typical home value (ZHVI), not a simple arithmetic average. In Des Moines, that value is $212,006. That's down 0.12% from a year earlier. It is about 2.0% below the typical Iowa city tracked here.
Homes in Des Moines are cheaper than Polk County as a whole, where the median is $283,019 — a difference of about 25.1%.
Median household income here is $65,932, so the typical home value is about 3.2× annual household income. This ratio is a broad comparison measure, not a mortgage-payment estimate.
Des Moines police reported 703 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, covering a population of about 209,245. Crime rates are one input among many — they vary block to block within a city, and this figure is a citywide average.
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