Ankeny named one of the best places to live in U.S.
Ankeny has been named one of the best places to live in America, climbing to No. 4 nationally in a new U.S. News and World Report ranking.
www.kcci.com
Just for all you Ankeny bashers
- Thread starter Pope
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www.kcci.com
Congrats.
It’s still one of the worse places to drive through.
It’s still one of the worse places to drive through.
Live here and can verify. It takes longer to go from east to west side than it does to go from East side to West Des Moines.
Also they have disruptive road construction down to an art: if there are three ways to get from point A to B, 2 of them will be under road construction.
Here's another example where it's useful to consider the source when looking at reviews, and what they're based on.
For example, in 2023, according to the Des Moines Register, Ankeny was ranked second...
... in terms of car crashes.
One analysis of US News & World Report says that their college rankings include considering faculty pay rates. The rankers do not visit classes on campuses to determine what's really happening within.
So, caveat lector, as they say. (Let the reader beware)
Google AI summary of USN&WR's rankings:
Where It Falls Short
For example, in 2023, according to the Des Moines Register, Ankeny was ranked second...
... in terms of car crashes.
One analysis of US News & World Report says that their college rankings include considering faculty pay rates. The rankers do not visit classes on campuses to determine what's really happening within.
So, caveat lector, as they say. (Let the reader beware)
Google AI summary of USN&WR's rankings:
Where It Falls Short
- Subjectivity: Because it balances the country's collective preferences, it may not align with your specific priorities (e.g., climate, nightlife, or outdoor recreation).
- Weighting Issues: Critics and communities often note that the ranking skews heavily toward factors that also make a place great for retirees, potentially undervaluing bustling urban hubs in favor of quieter, more affordable suburbs.
- Hyper-Local Blind Spots: A city might score high on regional safety and average income but have terrible local school districts or specific neighborhood safety issues. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
In fairness, two of the major pain points in Ankeny are highways managed by the DOT (three if you count I-35), but I could write a dissertation on the dumb project planning this city does and the insistence on upgrading roads after thousands of people have built around them and rely on them everyday rather than building ahead of the growth.
Or, spread out the commercial areas a bit. Not everything has to be on the same block of one street.
important question - does ankeny have a trader joes?
I love how so many folks love to bash Ankeny and yet it's been one of the fastest growing towns in the nation for years. And all that construction folks are b*tching about? That's called progress and enhancement, something many Iowa towns know little about.
That is RICH, considering the sources you just used in the Obsession movie thread hahahaha.
Entirely true. The whole early-stage city planning of "put everything important onto just two roads that are next to each other" really didn't age well.
Then the next thing was "put all the schools as close to major roads as possible". And then it was "add this giant sports complex with tons and tons of traffic every day 6 months out of the year" for the north end. Not only did they make very few smart ways to get around, they filled all the best roads to get around on with high-traffic locations.
Nobody could have predicted the explosive growth over the last couple of decades. Any community with that type of crazy growth would be experiencing the same issues.
It was somewhat predictable in this case. It's a suburb of DSM, not like we're out in the boonies here. If there was a likely spot in Iowa for a mass growth to occur, it's around the DSM metro.
People from Ankeny think its the greatest place in the world. Everyone else just doesn't get it. And that's fine.
Ankeny named one of the best places to live in U.S.
Ankeny has been named one of the best places to live in America, climbing to No. 4 nationally in a new U.S. News and World Report ranking.
Deleware Ave sucks.
Could they have predicted normal growth for a Des Moines suburb? Absolutely. Should they have expected the incredible growth they've experienced? No.
They didn't even hardly do that, at least from a city planning standpoint. Ankeny's design problems aren't found much in other suburbs. It's too much stuff crammed into too small of areas, with little in the way of alternatives. The community itself is fine, it's just super-cramped to get around in.
Lived in Ankeny for 18 years and hard to disagree. The city just has a very reactive vs proactive mindset. Case in point, they'll build road to get you somewhere but you just know its not enough lanes and then a year later they'll shut that road down to add turning lanes...why not do it all at once? Waukee has done that with their new business district. Roads look massively huge for what's out there, but once buildings and businesses come in, it'll work perfect for them.
I live in Ankeny and like it. Driving can be frustrating, but it's not the end of the world. I also love being 30 mins from Ames and 30 mins from basically any Des Moines suburb. Makes it easy to get back for football games, wrestling events, basketball games, etc. Some nice places to eat, good parks and trails, Uptown is a good place to go for drinks and the District has good concerts on Fridays throughout the summer. Like any place, there will be negatives, but overall it's a good place to live
