Careers

Education

Ames Community School District

The Ames Community School District is accredited by both the North Central Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges and the Iowa Department of Education. It is one of the best districts in Iowa, featuring small class sizes, highly qualified teachers — more than half hold Master’s degrees, rigorous academic standards, an abundance of extracurricular opportunities, and many advanced placement classes for college credit. Along with advanced placement classes, the state of Iowa funds a program where high school students can take college courses for free if they have exhausted the options in that subject offered by their high school. Ames Community School District has a philosophy of walking distance from elementary schools.

Ames High School has garnered honors from U.S. News and World Report and Newsweek for serving the academic and social-emotional needs of all students by demonstrating measurable academic outcomes for successfully educating them across a range of performance indicators.

Ames Community School District Facebook page

Iowa State University

Iowa State University is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in the heart of Ames. Iowa State created the nation’s first veterinary medicine school in 1879 and is a leader in agriculture, engineering, extension, and home economics.

Iowa State University offers a great lecture program that brings stimulating lectures, political debates, academic debates, cultural events, film viewings, and comedy events to the university campus. All lectures are free and open to the public.

Libraries

Iowa State University’s Parks Library

EnSoft employees have access to the Parks Library, one of the 100 largest university libraries in the country. Parks contains over 2.6 million books and subscribes to nearly 100,000 journal titles.

EnSoft employees have free electronic access to all IEEE and ACM publications.

Ames Public Library

The Ames Public Library reopened in 2014 following an $18 million dollar renovation project.

They have a plethora of activities for kids and teens including Family Storytime, an extensive manga collection, and ESL and foreign language learning resources.

Housing Market

The house in the above image last sold in Ames at $190,000. With a 5% down payment ($9,500) and a 30-year fixed mortgage, one could expect to pay around $1,181 for their monthly mortgage payment on this or a comparable house.

Ames Housing Market Statistics

The average home value in 2010 was $180,306.
About 55% of housing units in Ames are rentals.
42 percent of housing structures were built since 1990.
12 percent of homes were built before 1939.

Ames has a healthy real estate market, with steady growth in home values. The Ames market has historically remained remarkably stable, the adverse effects of the economic downturn felt in other areas of the nation and state. Ames is a smart place to invest in a home.

Ames has an abundance of state and federal employees, which has contributed to its economic resilience compared to areas with less stable job bases.

Selection

There is a wide variety of housing choices in Ames, from new construction to charming older homes, condos to acreages, and architecture styles from modern to traditional and everything in between. Ames being an arboreal city, many homes have large trees or are located near green spaces, parks, and walking trails.

Single family homes

The majority of homes for sale in Ames are single family homes. There is a lot of variety: they range from modest to magnificent, restored historical to brand new construction in a variety of styles and price points.

Condos and Townhomes

There are a variety of condo and townhome options available for those looking for a low-maintenance home ownership option. Many are located in newer developments.

All information listed in the Housing Market section is used with permission from Hunziker & Associates Realtors and taken from their Ames Relocation Guide.