People like to pick on Iowa. It can be seen as flat, and light on big city energy, but Ames like a lot of great college towns, surprises people with all that goes on here, particularly for the price tag. 
Iowa State University’s presence, coupled with the people and amenities that come along with it, inject an atmosphere that is as compelling as the other college towns you know better than Ames. The University employs more than 15,000 people, creating a community that is committed to Cyclone culture and gives Ames a social and cultural energy outsized for its population. 

The city also has an amazing variety of great outdoor spaces, with 37 parks, the most iconic being the university-run 17-acre Reiman Gardens, a handful of golf venues, a skatepark, an in-city lake, and more than 50 miles of bike/hiking/walk routes winding throughout town. 
Probably most important to recent graduates are the social opportunities in the city. Live downtown and you can walk to countless bars, restaurants, cafes, and the year-round events and cultural experiences the city and university provide. 

If you’re not a student or part of the university community, Ames can be kind of alienating, particularly if you’re older than the average student and single. There’s also not a lot to do if the college bar scene and the local parks don’t appeal to you. Ame's proximity to Des Moines can mitigate some of this, but if you’re the type of person attracted to big city life, Ames will be a tough spot. It’s also very much Iowa in terms of diversity, or more accurately, lack of diversity.

LookyLOO Review of Ames

Ames is a safe, family-friendly town with a lot of welcoming small businesses located along the main commercial district. The neighborhood of Campustown, as you might guess, is right by ISU, with several different housing options and shopping and dining choices as well. Most of the other hotspots in town are made up of relatively affordable single-family homes that are always close to a park or golf course.

If you want to see what locals do for fun and culture in Ames check out the [calendar of events](https://discoverames.com/events-calendar/).

We highly recommend visiting Ames and staying in the community in a [VRBO](https://vrbo.com/affiliate/p4JS4ZC) rather than a hotel to get a feel for what it's like to live among the locals. You can receive discounted fares on travel via our [partnership with Expedia](expedia.com/affiliate/9NZ8LBQ) as well.

Small Town Vibe

Lifestyle 

“Can I ask you something… Is this heaven?. It’s Iowa.” This line from Field of Dreams captures what your experience in Ames might be like. It’s a beautiful place with great people and a wonderful college town atmosphere that changes most outsiders perspective on Iowa. 

It's Iowa

Why You Should Move Here Now?

**tcpill8**
4mo ago
🦉🦉🦉🦉

I grew up on the North side and still live within 30 minutes of Ames. Growing up I always wanted to leave, and I did, but quickly learned there is no place like home. I am almost in my 30’s and proud to be from there.

Ames is honestly pretty cool. Because we have Iowa State University there’s a lot of opportunities and things to go do that wouldnt be available without it. There’s so many different areas in the town with different vibes that there’s usually always a place for someone.

Campus is campus. It’s college town and it can get a little rowdy. With that though comes a lot of opportunities at taking classes or trying new hobbies and skills. Like I think there a glass blowing club, you might have to pay to be apart of it but like how cool is that? And just the history of it all and if you enjoy sports, you’re in the right place for sure for most college athletics. With that said on home game days, don’t go out unless you’re willing to deal with the craziness. If you have to go out, avoid campus, avoid end of game time cause it can get a little backed up around the highway/interstate.

If you are into the outdoors there’s tons of parks and stuff in Ames/just outside the city and within Story County itself. If you enjoy bicycling, that’s huge here. There’s trails all over the state, Ragbrai goes on during the summer but it doesn’t always come through here but a very cool thing to go see or be apart of. If you want to know more look up story county iowa parks and rec guides. The DNR website is pretty cool too, you can sort things by county if looking for specific hunting, fishing, hiking stuff.

For more reviews of what living in Ames is like from locals, check out [The Reviews](https://lookyloomove.com/locations/ames/reviews).

It’s Still Kinda Iowa

Reviews of Ames from Locals

**The Best Thing About Ames?** Bang for your Buck

People like to pick on Iowa. It can be seen as flat, and/or boring, and by the time they get to this point in the paragraph, they might have moved on to the next city. Ames, however, is so much more than that… particularly for the price tag. Iowa State University’s presence, coupled with the people and amenities that come along with it, inject an atmosphere into the city that is more compelling than most of the other college towns you probably know better than Ames. The University employs more than 15,000 people, creating a community that unlike some of those other towns, is truly committed to Cyclone culture. The city also has an amazing variety of good outdoor space and activities, with 37 parks, the most iconic being the university-run 17 acre Reiman Gardens, a handful of golf venues, and more than 50 miles of bike routes winding throughout town.

**The Worst Thing About Ames?** It’s Still Kinda Iowa

If you’re not a student or part of the university community, however, Ames can be kind of alienating, particularly if you’re older than the average student and single. There’s also not a lot to do if the college bar scene and the local parks don’t appeal to you. Our proximity to the larger city of Des Moines can mitigate some of this, but if you’re the type of person attracted to big city life, Ames will be a tough spot. It’s also very much Iowa in terms of diversity, or more accurately, lack of diversity, with the overwhelming majority of residents being white.


**How You Living?** Small Town Vibe

Ames is a safe, family friendly town with a lot of welcoming small businesses located along the main stretch. The neighborhood of Campustown, as you might be able to guess, is a neighborhood located right by ISU with a number of different housing options and different shopping and dining options as well. Most of the other hotspots in town are made up of relatively affordable single family homes that are always close to a park or golf course.


**Why You Should Move Here Now?** Heaven?

“‘Can I ask you something... Is this heaven?’ ‘It’s Iowa.’” This line from Kevin Costner’s Field of Dreams encapsulates what your experience with Ames might be like. It’s a beautiful place with a great people and a wonderful college town atmosphere that will probably change your perspective on the state one way or another. 

Ames is organized by North, Northwest, Northeast, Southwest, South and Southeast. Downtown and the Iowa State campus are pretty much in the center with the campus west of Downtown. The greatest concentration of affordable housing for students is in the South and Southwest sections of the city. Great affordable apartment buildings + lots of eats and pubs for recreation with short walks to campus make these ideal places to live. Some of these housing options are in a small area called Campustown. Pretty much anywhere in these neighborhoods seems to work for undergrads with graduate students often choosing to live a bit farther from campus to get some peace and quiet. 


College Students

Campustown/South/Southwest

Ames frequently ranks near the top of national rankings for young people to move. Extremely low unemployment numbers, great college town energy, a good restaurant, bar and culture scene, all combine to make it an ideal place to start a career, build for something and enjoy yourself while you’re doing so. There are a lot of neighborhoods to choose from but Old Town and Downtown (Main Street) are where you should start. They’re close to campus so you get the vibe but not so popular for students so you can avoid the madness. Plenty of eats and drinks along with culture and community events make them energized walk score havens. All of these characteristics also make the neighborhoods ideal for retirees who want the same heightened cultural and social energy in an easily walkable neighborhood. 
- Old Town
- Downtown (Main Street)


Young Professionals / Retirees

Downtown/Old Town

Setting aside the student areas near campus, most of Ames is family friendly. Many families choose the Northwest section of the city due to its distance from campus and the beautiful homes, tree-lined streets and proximity to trails for walking, biking and general outdoor recreation. The public schools in Ames are excellent and this is particularly true for Northwest. If you're looking for big homes, great yards and outdoor spaces, and some of the best public schools in the midwest then this is and area you should put on your shortlist. This includes the Somerset neighborhood and farther North and West. 
- Somerset
- Northwest


Families 

Northwest / Somerset

Ames

**Minespidurr**
4mo ago
🦉🦉🦉

It depends on what you're looking for, how old you are, etc.

I'm a current student at ISU who's lived here in Ames for over 2 years. It's quiet, small, the parks are clean and nice. People are super friendly. Safety isn't a real concern here regardless of where in town you live. We have a little downtown area with some neat novelty shops and bars. There's one main street on the eastern part of town where 80% of the businesses are (Duff Ave). The roads aren't riddled with potholes (at least where I'm at). I actually enjoy living here more than my hometown back in eastern Iowa. Oh and our public transportation, CyRide, is the best. There's an app that tells you when buses are arriving with plenty of routes throughout the city. Bus drivers are super polite.

The biggest con I can think of is it's a college town. Thus, expect to encounter immature college students occasionally that may say and do some really stupid stuff. I've had drivers yell expletives at me while walking outside. I've had loud, partying neighbors every weekend. Football culture is very strong here. Almost all the students leave during the summer months from mid May to early August, so during that time Ames is practically a ghost town. I don't know many students who stayed around here after graduation, so if you aren't a student it may feel very lonely here. The social scene outside of the school is kinda nonexistent from what I have gathered.

**Substantial-Elk-9138**
4mo ago
🦉🦉🦉

It depends a lot upon what you are looking for, Ill answer from my 36 YO dad perspective ;)

There are the obvious things that come with a college town, then all the rest that the 30+ crowd spends time at to avoid the college town. Decent food for our size, high prices for Iowa, lots of great parks and trails, some good local breweries that double as event spaces, good farmers market, phenominal library, Main street has the bars worth going to (I'm 36), two good board game stores, arcade bar and pool hall, and a handful of community sports leagues. There is a lot to do for its size, but like others have said not nearly as much as DSM/Ankeny. LMK if you have specific questions and Im happy to answer.

**tcpill8**
4mo ago
🦉🦉🦉🦉

I grew up on the North side and still live within 30 minutes of Ames. Growing up I always wanted to leave, and I did, but quickly learned there is no place like home. I am almost in my 30’s and proud to be from there.

Ames is honestly pretty cool. Because we have Iowa State University there’s a lot of opportunities and things to go do that wouldnt be available without it. There’s so many different areas in the town with different vibes that there’s usually always a place for someone.

Campus is campus. It’s college town and it can get a little rowdy. With that though comes a lot of opportunities at taking classes or trying new hobbies and skills. Like I think there a glass blowing club, you might have to pay to be apart of it but like how cool is that? And just the history of it all and if you enjoy sports, you’re in the right place for sure for most college athletics. With that said on home game days, don’t go out unless you’re willing to deal with the craziness. If you have to go out, avoid campus, avoid end of game time cause it can get a little backed up around the highway/interstate.

If you are into the outdoors there’s tons of parks and stuff in Ames/just outside the city and within Story County itself. If you enjoy bicycling, that’s huge here. There’s trails all over the state, Ragbrai goes on during the summer but it doesn’t always come through here but a very cool thing to go see or be apart of. If you want to know more look up story county iowa parks and rec guides. The DNR website is pretty cool too, you can sort things by county if looking for specific hunting, fishing, hiking stuff.

**itsnotevenmemom**
4mo ago
🦉🦉🦉

I’m 25, moved here last August! I genuinely enjoy the city. The people aren’t always kind, the driving is kind of scary because people genuinely drive however they want too, im talking left turns at intersections from the right lane, no blinkers, lots of red light running, and I’ve seen quite a few drug deals on duff as well. The houseless population looks to be rising, and the price of living is kind of astronomical compared to the average wage. My partner and I are finding ourselves in DSM more for activities, however!!! We really enjoy the parks and arcade bar here in Ames. Ledges over in Boone is a gorgeous park as well. Main street bars are pretty fun. The traffic gets really insane on game days. We Enjoy doordashing here, the late nights are always a good time and we make plenty of money doing it.

Ames, Iowa

We’re nicer than everybody else

Looklyloo Score: 89