West Des Moines Eviction Risk: Moderate

Cost burden runs 22% here against 33.1% across Dallas County. On the high side, tenant-organizing strength reads 8.5/10.

67% of occupied units are rented, so comparables are plentiful and vacancy risk is low, but a mispriced renewal loses the tenant to a building nearby. Running cool, eviction-process difficulty reads 2/10. SNAP participation runs 3.3% against 15.2% nationally.

The voucher gap is 20.6%: households holding assistance that local rents will not absorb, which surfaces as churn rather than arrears. 14% are severely burdened past the 50% mark. That cohort absorbs no shock: one repair bill or one cut shift converts straight into arrears. Average gross rent is $1,467, 19% above the West Des Moines average.

Inability to pay a utility bill runs 3.2% against 9.2% nationally. Utility arrears usually lead rent arrears by a month or two. On the national scale it lands near the 44th percentile of the 84,120 tracts scored. Social vulnerability reads 1.4/10 on the CDC index, a measure of exposure to housing and economic shocks.

Against average income of $98,008, annual rent is just 18%. Of its three components the household composition measure is the least pressured.

Poverty sits at 5%, low enough that arrears here usually signal a specific shock rather than a structural income gap.

All figures here are ACS 5-year estimates for this tract, refreshed as the underlying releases land.