Ankeny
Ankeny has been one of Iowa's fastest-growing cities for years, which means the dating pool is genuinely deep but tilts young-family and DMACC-adjacent rather than thirtysomething-single. The Prairie Trail district gives the suburb something resembling a walkable core, and the chain-restaurant strip along Delaware keeps first dates affordable and forgivable. The honest tradeoff: Ankeny's growth has outpaced its third places, so the social scene still leans on Des Moines proper after dark. Best read as a daytime-and-dinner city, coffee shops, the trail network, an early dinner, with the understanding that the actual nightlife is a twenty-minute drive south.
Ankeny by the numbers
Ankeny is roughly balanced, about 51% men to 49% women.
Median individual income in Ankeny is about $57,800.
Iowa registers voters by party, and Polk County is about 37% Democratic to 30% Republican, with a 32% No Party bloc.
The median renter in Ankeny pays about $1,240 a month.
About 6,700 Ankeny residents ages 22 to 50 are single.
Local date spots
- AnkenyCafés
Main Street Cafe & Bakery (Ankeny)
- AnkenyDrinks
Whiskey River Ankeny
- AnkenyCafés
7 Brew Coffee
- AnkenyCafés
Cafe Diem
- AnkenyCafés
Porch Light Coffeehouse
- AnkenyDining
Mullets - Uptown Ankeny
- AnkenyDining
30hop
- AnkenyDrinks
TrailSide Tap
- AnkenyDining
Filet Steakhouse
- AnkenyDining
Hawker's Kitchen
- AnkenyCafés
the creamery. polk city
- AnkenyDrinks
36th Street Tavern
- AnkenyDrinks
Jakes