Waukee, Iowa.
Typical home $344,579 (-1.5% in a year), asking rent $1,640 (+5.7%). Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$726 (+67%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $5,351 -2%
- $349,931$344,579 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $21,044 +7%
- $323,535$344,579 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.
- Waukee$1,809
- Iowa$1,242
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 55 years.
Typical home values in Waukee, IA fell 1.5% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Asking rents in Waukee, IA rose 5.7% over the past year — faster than the nation's +2.7%.
Owning the typical home in Waukee runs $941/mo more than renting one. The gap peaked at $1,185 in Oct 2023.
That is $2,581 a month against $1,640 rent: a $1,809 mortgage payment, plus $404 property tax and $369 insurance & upkeep.
Owning vs renting — Waukee
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$2,581
- Renting$1,640
- Mortgage only$1,809
Property tax · $404/mo 1.41% of value a year — the ACS 2020-2024 median bill over the median home value for Dallas County, IA
Insurance & upkeep · $369/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.
Living in Waukee, Dallas County, Iowa
Waukee is a city of 23,940 people in Dallas County. Half its households earn more than $101,029 a year and half less, against $102,379 across Dallas County; 7% of its people live below the poverty line. 66% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 34% are rented. Unemployment in Waukee was 3.5% in August 2026, and Dallas County had 2.1% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in finance and property, then schools and health care.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Waukee is a city in Dallas County, Iowa, that has grown into a sizeable suburb. Residents are younger than in much of the country, and most homes are lived in by their owners. Household incomes are close to the county's, and a large share of adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are cold and snowy, with January the coldest month, while July brings warm summer highs, and precipitation is moderate through the year.
Work. Many residents work in banks, insurance and property, in schools, hospitals and social care, in professional and business services, and in shops. Among the largest workplaces in Waukee are the Waukee Comm School District, Hy-Vee and Target. A typical commute is fairly short, and a good number of people work from home. Unemployment is low, and Dallas County has added jobs over the past year.
Things to do. Living History Farms, a museum, and Walnut Woods State Park, a protected area, are both a short drive away. For a longer outing, Adventureland is an amusement park, and the Des Moines Botanical Center is a botanical garden, both a longer drive from town. The Iowa State Capitol, a museum, is another longer drive.
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- 11,830households
- 58%of adults have a degree
- 7%below the poverty line
- 20 mintypical commute
- 22%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Dallas County had 56,432 jobs in 2025, 2.1% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 31° and lows near 14°; warmest in July, with highs near 86° and lows near 66°. About 36 inches of snow and 37 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Des Moines International Airport weather station, 12 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Waukee
- Waukee Comm School DistrictSchool district1,788FTE
- Hy-VeeSupermarkets and other grocery except convenience stores498
- TargetDiscount department stores272
- Summit School ServicesSchool and employee bus transportation156
- US LBM HoldingsOther building material dealers116
- CSIG Shared Services GroupResidential property managing110
- Access TechnologiesSoftware installation services, computer88
- Fareway Stores, Inc. 989 WaukeeGrocery stores61
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 12 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,506 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- TornadoesVery high
- Strong windRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- Hailrelatively high in parts of WaukeeRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherrelatively high in parts of WaukeeRelatively moderate
- Ice stormsRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Waukee’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Dallas County and the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA metro.
Waukee home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Waukee$344,579
- Iowa$236,623
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Waukee listings, and the typical home goes pending in 47 days — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Waukee34.03%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
- Waukee47
- United States27
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Waukee209
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Waukee47
Median sale price
What buyers actually paid — closed sales, not asking prices.
- Waukee$376,752
- United States$371,407
Sale-to-list ratio
Above 100%, homes sell over asking; below, buyers negotiate wins.
- Waukee98.60%
Zip codes with a Waukee address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Waukee — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.