Elected officials and employees of the City of West Des Moines are committed to honoring the City's value statement:

"We, the employees of the City of West Des Moines, through TEAMWORK and COOPERATION, are COMMITTED to provide the highest QUALITY OF SERVICE with HONESTY and INTEGRITY to the community we serve. We take pride in providing EFFECTIVE, DEPENDABLE services while striving to achieve EXCELLENCE through VISION and INNOVATION."

That commitment transcends the basic functions of making a city work. The focus on innovation, excellence, and quality in West Des Moines is demonstrated through the various awards and recognitions the City organization has achieved in its effort to improve services and maintain a high quality of life for residents.

West Des Moines was ranked #5 among the top cities in the country in which to retire by a report issued by Bankrate.com.

A Gallup-Healthways survey found that the City of West Des Moines ranks #8 nationally for citizens who are most satisfied with their City. Read more on the survey factors, here.

Area Development magazine listed West Des Moines as #29 out of 100 leading locations in the United States. Read more,here.

West Des Moines was recognized as one of the most exciting places in Iowa according to Movoto.com. Factors include nightlife, live music venues, and age of residents. Read more on the recognition.

Forbes has named the Des Moines-West Des Moines Metropolitan area the #1 area for young professionals ages 24-34 who hold a bachelor's degree or higher. The study utilized 7 indicators including unemployment rates, job growth, the number of small businesses per capita, large businesses per capita, media salaries for the targeted group, cost of living, and statistics of local population aged 25 and older with bachelor's degrees. Read more on the ranking and other cities included.

The Des Moines-West Des Moines Metropolitan has been named in the top ranking for best metros for Millennial Homebuyers. The National Association of Realtors ranked the Des Moines-West Des Moines Metro #4 in the nation. Read more,here.

West Des Moines has been named as one of the Top Ten Best Small Cities for Education in America by real estate blog, Movoto.com. The City received very positive scores indicating a great environment for education. To read more about the ranking, go to: www.movoto.com/blog/top-ten/best-small-cities-for-education/.

Policom Corp, an economic research firm, named the Des Moines-West Des Moines Metropolitan No. 1 in a ranking of economic strength amongst metropolitan areas. The ranking is derived using data that includes per capita income, construction, and retail. Read more about the outstanding recognition.

The Des Moines-West Des Moines Metropolitan area was named the #1 Best Medium-Sized Metro Areas for Homeownership by NerdWallet Finance Blog. Three major factors were used to determine the selection: home availability, affordability, and growth within the area.

Movoto.com in January 2014 ranked West Des Moines as the #2 best small city to retire to and as the #26 most exciting small city in the nation.

The Des Moines-West Des Moines Metropolitan area is now ranked in the top 50 top performing cities. The Milken Institute released their poll showing a marked improvement in the ranking. Read more.

West Des Moines was recognized by Livability.Com as one of the Top 100 Places to Live.  West Des Moines ranked very high for economics and education.  Read it here.

Google recognized West Des Moines in August 2013 as the recipient of the inaugural eCity of Iowa award which identifies the strongest online business community in each state - the digital capitals of America.

The City of West Des Moines Emergency Medical Services Department has received reaccreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services for its compliance with national standards of excellence.  (June 2013)

The Des Moines-West Des Moines metro is a worthy contender for the nation's top life and health insurance hub, according to InsuranceNet.com but when it comes to Indexed Annuities the metro is in a league of its own.  Read it here.

Forbes Magazine named the Des Moines-West Des Moines metro as the best city for jobs in June 2013.

The City of West Des Moines Historic City Hall was presented with LEED Platinum status in May 2013.

Techie.com named Des Moines-West Des Moines to its list of Top Ten Unexpected Cities for High Tech in April 2013, specifically naming the West Des Moines Business Incubator as a reason why.  See the listing here.

For the second year in a row, POLICOM has ranked the Des Moines-West Des Moines metro as the second strongest metro economy in the nation.  The research of POLICOM addresses the condition of an economy from the viewpoint of its impact upon the standard of living of the area's residents.  Read it here.

The Des Moines-West Des Moines metro area was identified as the best metro in the midwest and the eighth best in the nation for young adults  by The Business Journals in March 2013.

Forbes Magazine identified West Des Moines as the 5th Best City for Jobs for Spring 2013. 

The City of West Des Moines was selected as the "City Government Most Conducive to Business" for the 15th consecutive year by the readers of Business Record in September 2012.

In September 2012 MSN.Com identified Des Moines-West Des Moines as a Top 10 City of most livable bargain markets for real estate citing plentiful recreation and entertainment opportunities and good jobs.

Money Magazine named West Des Moines as one of the Top 100 Best Places to Live in their August 2012 issue.

Kiplinger stated Des Moines-West Des Moines is the #1 Best City for Families in July 2012.

The Des Moines-West Des Moines metro was ranked the 6th best place for successful aging by the Milken Institute in July 2012.

Valley Junction in West Des Moines was identified as one of the 5 most revitalized towns in America by Where to Retire Magazine.  Read all about it here.

Forbes Magazine in June 2012 listed West Des Moines as tied with Milwaukee as the best city in the country for jobs and job growth.  Read the article.

The City of West Des Moines received an environmental impact award presented by the Center on Sustainable Communities for the Historic City Hall on May 16, 2012.

The City of West Des Moines received Honorable Mention as a Bicycle Friendly Community from the League of American Bicyclists in Spring 2012.  The listing is here.

Valley Junction in West Des Moines was named a Great American Main Street by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in April 2012.  See more.

Jones Lang LaSalle identified West Des Moines as the 10th best city in the country in which to locate a data center in their Winter 2012 publication of Data Center Perspectives. 

As reported in The Atlantic Cities, a January-December 2011 Gallup Poll found Des Moines-West Des Moines ranked 7th in the nation in optimism and 5th in community satisfaction.  See the poll results here.

The Des Moines-West Des Moines metro was ranked #2 on the "Best Cities for Jobs" list by Forbes in February 2012.  Read the article.

Named Government Agency of the Year in January 2012 by the Chinese Association of Iowa for the city's Illumifest Celebration.

In September 2011, West Des Moines was named the City Government Most Conducive to Business.  The City of West Moines has won this recognition every year since it was first awarded in 1998.  Read about it here. 

Forbes magazine ranked the Des Moines metro area as the best city in the nation for young professionals in their July 2011 issue.  The magazine cited high per capita concentrations of big businesses and low business costs as reasons why.  Read the article here.

Residents in the Des Moines - West Des Moines metro have the highest real incomes, according to US News and World Report in their June 2011 issue, ranking #1 on the list of Cities with the Highest Real Incomes.  The index takes into account prices on a variety of basic goods and services.  Find out more here.

POLICOM ranked Des Moines-West Des Moines as the 6th Strongest Metropolitan Area for Economic Strength in May 2011.  POLICOM specializes in studying the dynamics of local economies.  From its research, it determines if an area is growing or declining, what is causing this to happen, and offers ideas and solutions to communities to improve the situation.

In April 2011, The Business Journals ranked the Des Moines - West Des Moines metro area as the one of only three midwest metros in the top 30 in the nation for the creation and development of small businesses.  It named Des Moines - West Des Moines as the 2nd Best City for Small Business in the Midwest and the 16th best city nationwide.

Men's Journal ranked the Des Moines - West Des Moines metro as the #18 Coolest Places to Live in America in March 2011.

In March 2011, Men's Health Magazine ranked the Des Moines - West Des Moines metro as the #42 Most Social Networked Community in the US out of the top 100 metros.

Farmer's Insurance named Des Moines - West Des Moines as the 2nd Most Secure City in the US with a Population of 500,000 or more.  The ranking took into consideration crime statistics, extreme weather, risk of natural disasters, housing depreciation, foreclosures, air quality, terrorist threats, environmental hazards, life expectancy and job loss numbers in 379 US metropolitan communities.

The Principal Charity Classic, held in West Des Moines at Glen Oaks Country Club, was named the number 1 stop on the 2010 PGA Champion's Tour by the tour players.  In 2009 the tournament was named 'Best Managed Event' on the tour.  Read the article.

PayScale.com and Forbes identified the Des Moines - West Des Moines metro area as a place Where Americans are Getting Richer in November 2010.  Read the article.

BestPlaces.net searched America for the Top 10 cities to move to and named Des Moines - West Des Moines as the 6th rated city in their October 2010 listing.  The listing considered such data points as cost of living, crime rate, number of colleges, health of population, access to museums, sporting events, shows and other events and stability.  Read the article here.

The Denver Business Journal rated Des Moines - West Des Moines #3 on their 2010 listing of the "Healthiest and Safest Metro in the Nation".

Area Development Magazine named the Des Moines - West Des Moines metro area as one of the "Most Attractive Metros for Business' in its August/September 2010 issue.  Industry consultants ranked metro areas by eight site-selection criteria including: business costs, fast-track permitting, and shovel ready sites to determine the areas they considered the most attractive investment locations.  Des Moines - West Des Moines ranked number 14 on their list of the top 15 metro areas in the country.  See the article here.

Bloomberg Business Week identified Des Moines - West Des Moines as the 12th strongest job market in America for their July 16, 2010 issue.  See the article here.

The Brookings Institution identified the Des Moines - West Des Moines metro as the #2 ranked metro in the nation for economic recovery in June 2010.  The MetroMonitor, an interactive barometer of America's metropolitan economies, looks "beneath the hood" of national economic statistics.

Des Moines - West Des Moines ranked as the #1 place to raise a family in Forbes, May 2010 issue.  The ranking looked at cost-of-living, crime rate, commuting, household income, homeownership, homeowner costs, and education.  Read about it here.

In May 2010, Kiplinger's ranked the Des Moines - West Des Moines metro as the #7 Best Cities for the Next Decade identiying the area as fertile ground for new jobs.  See the article here.

Forbes identified Des Moines - West Des Moines as the #1 "Best Place for Business and Careers" in their April 2010 issue factoring in cost-of-business, cost-of-living, job growth, income growth, educational attainment, projected economic growth, crime, cultural and recreation opportunities, net migration patterns, and percentage of subprime mortgages over a 3 year period.  Read the article here.

Identified as the #24 ranked metro in the country for Top US Cities with Most Energy Efficient Buildings by the EPA in March 2010.  Nearly 3,900 commercial buildings in the Des Moines - West Des Moines metro are Energy Star, representing annual savings of more than $900 million in utility bills and more than 4.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Ranked in the Top 10 "Best Mid-Sized Cities for Jobs" by Forbes in their April 2010 issue.

Portfolio.com and American City Business Journals, Inc. ranked Des Moines - West Des Moines as the #35 Top Metro Area in the US in National Brainpower by analyzing levels of educational attainment, in December 2010.  See the complete listing here.

In their December 2010 issue, MarketWatch ranked the Des Moines - West Des Moines metro as the #4 Best City in the Nation for Doing Business.  See the full article here.

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being 2010 Index ranked the Des Moines -West Des Moines metro as the #3 Healthiest and Safest Metro in the Nation.  The ranking looked at providing residents with basic neesd in health care, safety, and other essentials.

Des Moines - West Des Moines was ranked as the #8 Best Place to Launch a Small Business by CNNMoney.com in 2009, among midsized metro areas.  Prime to the ranking was the area's stable economy.  Read the article here. 

On November 30, 2009, Forbes.com named Des Moines - West Des Moines in its Top 5 "Best Bang for the Buck" cities. Forbes looked at the country's 100 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas for foreclosures as a percentage of home prices; vacancies; unemployment rates; a three-year job-growth forecast; a three-year home-price forecast; housing affordability; median real estate taxes; and median travel time to work. See the article or the complete list.

In October 2009, BusinessWeek named Des Moines - West Des Moines as one of the country's 40 strongest metro economies. Coming in at #17, the area was lauded for its highly educated population and ranked well overall largely because of very high rankings in the job growth and unemployment change categories.

In September 2009, Business Week named West Des Moines as the best affordable suburb in Iowa.  See the article.

In 2009, the West Des Moines website received a Silver Circle Award from 3CMA, the City/County Communications and Marketing Association, for excellence in digital interactive communications. The website for noted for the following: "Beautiful design! Clean, contrasting colors. Great calendar and news features. Content is clean and well-designed. Well-updated City Manager blog."

BusinessWeek named West Des Moines one of the Best Places to Raise Your Kids in 2009 for being "kid-friendly" and "cost-friendly." Read why West Des Moines was chosen or the full article text.

The City of West Des Moines was voted as one of America's Best Small Cities “offering ample job opportunities, good schools and lots to do on safe streets” in Money Magazine's August 2006 publication regarding America's Best Places to Live.

CNN Money named West Des Moines in its 2008 "Where Homes Are Affordable" Ranking. In slot 19, West Des Moines was noted for our library facility and resources, public parks, community center, Valley Junction shopping district, and range of residential options.  

FORTUNE Small Business (FSB) named West Des Moines in the Top 100 Places to Live and Launch a Small Business in a 2008 issue of CNN Money. To compile this list, FSB searched the nation for towns that "combine a great business environment with alluring leisure offerings."

The Wells Fargo Complex in West Des Moines was named one of the Top Ten Economic Development Projects of the Year by Site Selection Magazine in 2004.

Sperling and Sander's "Cities Ranked & Rated" named Des Moines-West Des Moines in the Top 50 Cities.

West Des Moines achieved Standard and Poor’s AAA Bond Rating in March 2005 and has maintained it since.

West Des Moines received Metro Waste Authority's 2006 Recycling Award for the City's commitment to comprehensive waste reduction and recycling. Of the twenty cities that participate in MWA's Curb it! program, West Des Moines recycles the highest percentage of goods per capita.

West Des Moines is one of only a few cities in the nation to have all three public safety departments accredited. Emergency Medical Services received accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services. The Police Department is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. The Fire Department received accreditation from The Commission on Fire Accreditation International.

The City's thrice annual publication WDM Magazine received an Award of Excellence from 3CMA, the City/County Communications and Marketing Association, in 2007. The awards recognize outstanding local government achievements in communications, public-sector marketing and citizen-government relationships. They salute skilled and effective city/county/agency professionals who have creatively planned and carried out successful innovations.

The WDM Magazine also won a Bronze Award for Best Government Publication in the 2009 Magnum Opus Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Custom Media. The Magnum Opus awards are given by ContentWise in conjunction with the Missouri School of Journalism and McMurry.

The West Des Moines Public Works Department received the Mentoring Award from CartêGraph, Inc, on October 29, 2008. The award recognizes that since 1994, WDM Public Works has influenced the development of new programs, troubleshooted existing or new programs, and helped other communities evaluate and learn from the City's use of the program and Asset Management philosophy including management of pavement, storm sewer, sanitary sewer, signs, signals, and fiber optics.

West Des Moines received a Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award from ESRI on August 6, 2008 for being "the beacon of GIS in the Des Moines metropolitan area."

Human Services staff were recognized on June 5, 2008 with a congratulatory medal for their commitment in making a difference in the lives of those who have mental illness and subsequent nomination for the Heroes in the Fight award. Heroes in the Fight is a recognition program established and sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company to celebrate dignity, courage, hope, and recovery in the ongoing treatment of persons with severe and persistent mental illness by recognizing “heroes” who provide care and support for these individuals and their families.

With the City's assistance, Historic Valley Junction was designated a Great Place by the State of Iowa. 

West Des Moines has received the Government Finance Officer's Association (GFOA) Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for the past 9 years.

The GFOA has also awarded West Des Moines a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the past 14 years.

Free viewers are required for some of the attached documents.
They can be downloaded by clicking on the icons below.

Acrobat Reader Flash Player QuickTime Windows Media Player Microsoft Silverlight Word Viewer Excel Viewer PowerPoint Viewer