Iowa Town Named One of the Top 5 Best Places to Live in the US

Each year, US News and World Report releases their list of the 250 best places to live in the entire country. Turns out, you don't have to go very far down the list to find an Iowa town.

The Des Moines suburb of Ankeny made the top 5 best places to live in the US for 2026. That's seriously impressive!

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Ankeny, IA is One of the Best Places to Live in the US

If you drive down to Des Moines from Minnesota on I-35, you've driven by Ankeny before. I always know we've hit Ankeny when I see all the big, fancy houses pop up. But those must just be the fancy homes by the golf course, because US News and World Report's findings say that the median home value is $331,417 and the median monthly rent is $1,094.

Before we get too far into this, these top places to live made the list because they were determined to have "good value, be a desirable place to live, have a strong job market and a high quality of life."

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Why Ankeny, IA is One of the Best Places to Live

Back to Ankeny specifically, they also found that the median household income is $107,871 and the average commute time is 21 minutes.

So on average, people in Ankeny make decent money, housing isn't outrageously expensive, and their commute time isn't too far. Plus, Ankeny is a really pretty town that the residents clearly love.

All of that put Ankeny as the 4th best place to live in the US. In the entire country! Impressive!

The others towns that made the top 5 are:

5. Johns Creek, GA
4. Ankeny, IA
3. Flower Mound, TX
2. Fishers, IN
1. Carmel, IN