THE WEST DES MOINES LAND BRIEF
Land in the
Rolling Loess Prairies setting.
West Des Moines city has 47.5 square miles of land in Dallas County, Madison County, Polk County, Warren County. Its Census reference point is in Rolling Loess Prairies, within Western Corn Belt Plains.
Glacial till plains and windblown loess hills make up the Western Corn Belt landscape. Near-level and rolling terrain are interspersed with steeper river valleys and hills.
Regional context: Western Corn Belt Plains ↗ · Classification at the Census reference point
One place name. 4 county geographies.
West Des Moines intersects 4 county geographies: Dallas County, Madison County, Polk County, Warren County. A West Des Moines mailing address alone cannot choose the right record office; use the county and parcel identifier on the tax bill or deed.
West Des Moines by land and water
The Census records 1.01 square miles of water within West Des Moines, or 2.1% of its total area. It is 1.3 percentage points higher than the 0.7% recorded for Iowa. This is geographic context; waterfront status and usable land must be checked at the parcel.
For scale, West Des Moines city has 6.2 times the land area of nearby Clive city (7.66 square miles). These areas describe boundaries, not comparable property prices.

