Ames, Iowa

Ames population, 2020 to 2024

Ames added 2,536 residents from July 2020 to July 2024, a change of +3.8%. In the latest year it moved by +598. Among 85 Iowa places of 5,000 or more, that growth ranks 23rd; the median place changed by +1.1%. The median place of 5,000+ in Iowa has 9,511 people, so Ames is 7.3 times that size.

Ames covers 28.20 square miles of land and 0.35 of water, for 2,448 people per square mile of land. The median Iowa place of 5,000+ has 1,363, so Ames is denser than the typical town.

What county Ames is in

All of Ames's residents live in Story County, which had 102,498 residents in 2024. Ames holds 67.3% of the county's population. The shaded shape is on the map above; dots mark the eight nearest places.

ZIP codes in Ames

4 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) overlap Ames by at least 10% of the ZCTA's or the city's land: 50010, 50012, 50013, 50014. ZCTAs are Census approximations of USPS ZIP code delivery areas. The list comes from the 2020 ZCTA to place relationship file, so a city that annexed land after 2020 may reach into ZIP codes not listed here.

Where Ames is

The Census internal point of Ames is at 42.026300, -93.621300. Des Moines, the capital, is 30.1 miles S in a straight line. The nearest larger place is Ankeny, IA (76,727 people), 20.5 miles away. The nearest city of 100,000 or more is Des Moines, IA, 31.4 miles away.

Daylight in Ames

At 42.03° N, Ames gets about 15 h 15 min of daylight around the June solstice and 9 h 07 min around the December solstice, a swing of 6 h 08 min. Figures are sunrise to sunset from the SunCalc model for June 21 and December 21, 2026.

Places near Ames

The eight nearest incorporated places of 1,000+ in Iowa, measured between internal points. The closest is Gilbert, 5.7 miles away, with 1,397 people.