Des Moines Metro School Districts

The federal boundary file puts 17 public school districts inside the 12 cities this site covers, and this site has pages for 16 of them. The one without a page is Winterset, which covers 0.56 sq mi of West Des Moines in Madison County. District lines do not follow city limits, so the city in an address does not tell you the school district. Here is which districts reach which cities, and the state's own figures for each district.

Which districts serve which cities

Each city lists the districts whose boundaries overlap it in the federal school district relationship file (district boundaries for the 2024-25 school year), with the share of the city's land area inside each district. Land area is not the same as homes or students: a district can cover a large, lightly built part of a city. The county auditors' tax tables (see property taxes) give a second, independent view, since every home is taxed in a district named for its city and school district. Where the two disagree, both are shown.

School districts in each city, with each district's share of the city's land area
City	School districts (share of the city's land area)
Des Moines	Des Moines Independent 85.3% Carlisle 6.6% Southeast Polk 4.1% Norwalk 1.7% Johnston 1.0% Indianola 0.6% Saydel 0.6% West Des Moines 0.2% Urbandale county tax tables only
West Des Moines	West Des Moines 51.3% Waukee 35.0% Van Meter 5.7% Norwalk 4.1% Des Moines Independent 2.7% Winterset 1.2% not in county tax tables
Waukee	Waukee 87.4% Van Meter 11.4% Adel-DeSoto-Minburn 1.1%
Urbandale	Urbandale 35.9% Waukee 27.8% Johnston 14.2% West Des Moines 11.8% Dallas Center-Grimes 9.8% Des Moines Independent 0.5%
Clive	West Des Moines 60.7% Waukee 39.3%
Ankeny	Ankeny 83.7% Saydel 8.7% North Polk 7.6%
Johnston	Johnston 100.0%
Altoona	Southeast Polk 75.5% Bondurant-Farrar 24.5% Saydel county tax tables only
Grimes	Dallas Center-Grimes 78.6% Johnston 17.2% Urbandale 4.2%
Indianola	Indianola 100.0%
Norwalk	Norwalk 98.7% Des Moines Independent 1.3%
Pleasant Hill	Southeast Polk 79.8% Des Moines Independent 20.2%

"Not in county tax tables" means the boundary file shows an overlap but the Polk, Dallas and Warren County tables for January 1, 2025 values list no taxing district for that city and school pairing, which is possible where the overlap has no taxable homes or lies in another county. "County tax tables only" is the reverse. Either way, confirm a specific address with the district or the county assessor before you rely on it.

District facts

From the Iowa Department of Education: the 2024-25 rating and score in the Iowa School Performance Profiles and the 2025-26 certified enrollment, which counts the public-school students who live in the district. Listed alphabetically.

State rating, share of possible points, certified enrollment and graduation rate for each district
District	State rating, 2024-25	Share of possible points	Certified enrollment, 2025-26	4-year graduation rate
Adel-DeSoto-Minburn	High Performing	76.25%	2,192	98.17% Class of 2024
Ankeny	High Performing	70.65%	12,682	94.74% Class of 2024
Bondurant-Farrar	Commendable	66.98%	2,636	95.26% Class of 2024
Carlisle	Commendable	68.14%	1,884	99.42% Class of 2024
Dallas Center-Grimes	High Performing	71.26%	3,405	97.93% Class of 2024
Des Moines Independent	Needs Improvementmoved down one category; Acceptable on points	55.47%	30,160	71.38% Class of 2024
Indianola	Commendable	68.41%	3,338	90.91% Class of 2024
Johnston	High Performing	72.18%	6,673	97.39% Class of 2024
North Polk	High Performing	73.03%	2,157	96.84% Class of 2024
Norwalk	High Performing	71.59%	3,495	98.38% Class of 2024
Saydel	Acceptablemoved down one category; Commendable on points	61.33%	999	83.65% Class of 2024
Southeast Polk	Commendable	67.72%	7,300	94.08% Class of 2024
Urbandale	Commendable	65.75%	3,340	94.86% Class of 2024
Van Meter	High Performing	76.28%	984	96.20% Class of 2024
Waukee	Acceptablemoved down one category; Commendable on points	67.66%	14,412	97.14% Class of 2024
West Des Moines	Acceptablemoved down one category; Commendable on points	61.54%	8,249	89.55% Class of 2024

The share of possible points is the score before any drop. A rating marked "moved down one category" was lowered because at least one student group scored below the state's cut score, so a district can have the larger share of points and the lower rating. What the state rating means.

What the state rating means

In December 2025 the Department of Education added district ratings to the Iowa School Performance Profiles for the first time, for the 2024-25 school year (department announcement). Each district gets an overall score out of a set number of possible points from measures such as proficiency, growth, graduation, chronic absenteeism and postsecondary readiness, and the score places it in one of six categories:

The six rating categories, their score ranges and how many entries on the state's lists fall in each
Category	Share of possible points	On the state's lists
Exceptional	78.25% and above	2
High Performing	69.60% - 78.24%	81
Commendable	60.95% - 69.59%	108
Acceptable	52.30% - 60.94%	100
Needs Improvement	42.37% - 52.29%	30
Priority / Comprehensive	42.36% and below	8

Score ranges from the profiles' "Rating Categories and Scores" table, before any drop. Counts from the District Ratings lists: 329 entries, which are 325 school districts and 4 charter school organizations, all 4 on the Priority list. The statewide average was 63.28% of possible points.

A district is moved down one category if at least one student group scores below the cut score the state uses to identify schools for targeted support (Technical Guide). Each district page says whether that happened and which groups it involved, so a rating can be read alongside its score.

What a rating cannot tell you

A rating summarizes test results and a few other measures across a whole district for one school year. It says nothing about a particular school or classroom, about programs your child needs, or about how a district has changed since. Iowa's open enrollment law also lets families attend a district they do not live in, and each district page shows the state's count of students moving in and out. Visit schools and talk to the district before deciding anything.

Sources

Iowa Department of Education, Iowa School Performance Profiles: District Ratings, Reporting Year 2025 (2024-25 school year). Retrieved November 5, 2026.
Iowa Department of Education, Iowa School Performance Profiles Technical Guide, December 2025. Retrieved November 5, 2026.
Iowa Department of Education, New district-level ratings added to Iowa School Performance Profiles (December 16, 2025). Retrieved November 5, 2026.
Iowa Department of Education, 2025-26 Certified Enrollment by District (December 18, 2025). Retrieved November 5, 2026. (listing page)
National Center for Education Statistics (EDGE), School District Geographic Relationship Files 2025, LEA to place (grf25_lea_place.xlsx) and LEA to county (grf25_lea_county.xlsx); TIGER 2025, school districts as of 2024-25. Retrieved November 5, 2026. (listing page)

Each district page lists its own profile pages as sources too.

Official figures, shown as published. Not a ranking and not advice on where to live or enroll. Boundaries change; check any address with the district.