Best PlacesAnkeny, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ankeny, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ankeny ranks 116th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ankeny
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Ankeny's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ankeny ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 97% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 93% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 93% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of cities
Where Ankeny ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 14% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 26% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 40% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Ankeny
A household needs to earn about $98,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ankeny home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $114,504, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Ankeny's effective rate of 1.65%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ankeny
Ankeny runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ankeny.
Who works in Ankeny, and how
Work in Ankeny centers on health care & social and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Ankeny
Ankeny has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of cities and more parkland per resident than 91% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ankeny and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ankeny, month by month
Ankeny sees roughly 98 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 23° | 16° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Ankeny
The nearest airport, Des Moines International, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 122 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ankeny
Schools across Ankeny average an A+, better than 98% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Prairie Trail ElementaryA+ · 84% proficient
- Northeast ElementaryA+ · 82% proficient
- Rock Creek ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Polk Middle SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Prairie Ridge Middle SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Parkview Middle SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
Top high schools
- North Polk High SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Ankeny High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Ankeny Centennial High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ankeny school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ankeny measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Ankeny against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Ankeny suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 93% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 20% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 59% of cities and health care access beats 80%.
Common questions about living in Ankeny
Is Ankeny a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ankeny ranks 116th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on good schools, state finances, and a strong job market, and lowest on distance from a big city and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ankeny expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $335,303. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $114,504 median income, cost of living beats 93% of cities.
Is Ankeny safe?
Yes, Ankeny is safer than 69% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $266 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ankeny?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 32 with lows near 16. That works out to about 98 pleasant days a year, more than 59% of cities.
Is Ankeny good for families?
Schools beat 98% of cities, crime safety beats 69%, and childcare runs $776 a month.
Compare Ankeny with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ankeny. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ankeny represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Ankeny detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ankeny: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ankeny: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ankeny: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ankeny: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ankeny detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.