50265
West Des Moines, Iowa.
West Des Moines, Polk County, IA · Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA metro · population 33,488
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$796 (+97%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $2,510 +1%
- $305,670$308,180 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $53,320 +21%
- $254,860$308,180 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- 50265$1,618
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 18 years.
Typical home values in zip 50265 rose 0.8% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Asking rents in zip 50265 rose 3.5% over the past year — faster than the nation's +2.7%.
Owning the typical home in zip 50265 runs $1,066/mo more than renting one. The gap peaked at $1,122 in Jan 2025.
That is $2,376 a month against $1,310 rent: a $1,618 mortgage payment, plus $429 property tax and $330 insurance & upkeep.
Owning vs renting — zip 50265
The owning line is the typical home's monthly payment at that month's rate, plus property tax and insurance & upkeep; the renting line is the typical asking rent; the grey line is the mortgage payment on its own. Same homes, same months, both ways of paying for a roof.
- Owning all in$2,376
- Renting$1,310
- Mortgage only$1,618
Property tax · $429/mo 1.67% of value a year — the ACS 2020-2024 median bill over the median home value for 2 counties
Insurance & upkeep · $330/mo insurance, maintenance and repairs together, from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey — the national figure for mortgaged homeowners, scaled to this market's home value. BLS publishes the three bundled and they cannot be split.
Both are priced off the same month's home value, so they rise with the market. Neither is a quote — a specific home's bill depends on its assessment, its age and its insurer.
This zip spans 2 counties: Polk County, IA 97% · Warren County, IA 3%
Zillow also publishes an index for the city itself: West Des Moines, IA — measured over the city limits, which is a different area from this zip.
Asking rent — 50265
Against the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA metro and the national benchmark.
- 50265$1,310
- Des Moines$1,280
- United States$1,932
Typical home value — 50265
Mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- 50265$308,180
- Des Moines$292,513
- United States$366,157
Within 20 miles
Showing 30 of 41 zips in range — sorting picks from all 41.
| Miles sorted ascending, activate to sort descending | Zip activate to sort by Zip | City activate to sort by City | Population activate to sort by Population | Rent activate to sort by Rent | Home value activate to sort by Home value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 | 50321 | Des Moines | 7,900 | $1,057 | $355,961 |
| 3.8 | 50312 | Des Moines | 15,802 | $1,144 | $294,463 |
| 3.9 | 50266 | West Des Moines | 37,523 | $1,368 | $334,561 |
| 3.9 | 50324 | Windsor Heights | 5,143 | $1,400 | $284,142 |
| 4.8 | 50311 | Des Moines | 14,574 | $942 | $225,988 |
| 5.4 | 50325 | Clive | 19,012 | $1,857 | $434,039 |
| 5.7 | 50061 | Cumming | 2,123 | — | $605,442 |
| 5.7 | 50322 | Urbandale | 31,931 | $1,030 | $289,882 |
| 6.1 | 50315 | Des Moines | 34,816 | $1,073 | $194,462 |
| 6.3 | 50310 | Des Moines | 31,177 | $913 | $231,801 |
| 6.5 | 50309 | Des Moines | 10,110 | $1,261 | $244,123 |
| 6.7 | 50314 | Des Moines | 10,438 | $1,082 | $158,505 |
| 7.1 | 50211 | Norwalk | 16,835 | $1,208 | $342,660 |
| 7.3 | 50323 | Urbandale | 17,265 | $2,075 | $457,873 |
| 8.2 | 50263 | Waukee | 29,611 | $1,632 | $343,051 |
| 8.3 | 50316 | Des Moines | 16,710 | $1,228 | $162,391 |
| 8.7 | 50320 | Des Moines | 24,807 | $1,220 | $263,487 |
| 9.3 | 50313 | Des Moines | 17,440 | $1,158 | $184,332 |
| 10.1 | 50131 | Johnston | 24,583 | $1,356 | $401,338 |
| 10.4 | 50111 | Grimes | 16,865 | $1,396 | $346,634 |
| 10.8 | 50317 | Des Moines | 36,548 | $1,252 | $191,095 |
| 11.1 | 50261 | Van Meter | 3,399 | — | $424,639 |
| 12.3 | 50160 | Martensdale | 569 | — | $221,352 |
| 12.4 | 50229 | Prole | 1,585 | — | $492,554 |
| 13.1 | 50327 | Pleasant Hill | 13,177 | $1,349 | $316,320 |
| 13.3 | 50023 | Ankeny | 46,306 | $1,459 | $355,240 |
| 14.4 | 50063 | Dallas Center | 2,720 | — | $330,034 |
| 14.6 | 50021 | Ankeny | 30,283 | $1,469 | $318,429 |
| 15.0 | 50047 | Carlisle | 6,690 | — | $289,289 |
| 15.2 | 50069 | De Soto | 1,109 | — | $259,135 |
Coordinates and population from SimpleMaps US Zips (Basic). Rent and home values from Zillow Research.