Iowa, Polk County
Where West Des Moines's records are kept. West Des Moines has its own city government, clerk's office and police department; county and state offices keep its other public records.
Start here
The cards below include West Des Moines's own offices, along with State of Iowa offices; the Polk County offices are on our Polk County page. Use the category buttons to narrow the list.
State records
The State Historical Society of Iowa opens its collection of more than 209 million items, with a catalog of government records, manuscripts, newspapers and photographs, research centers, reference requests and copy orders.
Open official site State Historical Society of Iowa ResearchCounty court
Serves southern Iowa from 111 Locust Street in Des Moines; the court posts 341 meeting and courtroom calendars, decisions and orders, takes copy requests and links PACER case information.
Open official site United States Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of IowaCounty court
Iowa's state court system online: find any county courthouse, search court records, fill in interactive court forms, eFile documents and follow Supreme Court opinions and oral arguments.
Open official site Iowa Judicial BranchVital records
Iowa's Department of Health and Human Services runs Medicaid, food and cash assistance and public health programs, and supplies certified copies of birth, death and marriage records.
Open official site Iowa Department of Health and Human ServicesPolice & jail
The Iowa Department of Corrections explains visiting, phone calls, messaging, mail, money deposits, care packages and voting rights restoration for families of people in prison, and links to its offender search.
Open official site Iowa Department of Corrections Inmate and Family ServicesPolice & jail
Clearinghouse set up in 1985 within the Iowa Department of Public Safety, listing missing persons with age, last contact date and the reporting agency; search by name, gender, race or physical traits.
Open official site Iowa DCI Missing Person Information ClearinghousePolice & jail
Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation registry, the central store of Iowa sex offender registration records since July 1995. Search registrants by last name, first name, alias or ZIP code.
Open official site Iowa Sex Offender RegistryPolice & jail
Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation record checks, on yourself or someone else, cost $15 per last name and need first name, last name and exact birth date; send online, by mail, fax or email.
Open official site Iowa DCI Criminal History Record CheckFederal
U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts for West Des Moines city, Iowa: 74,224 residents estimated for July 1, 2025, plus age, race, housing, income, education and business figures drawn from census and survey data.
Open official site U.S. Census Bureau QuickFactsState records
West Des Moines City Hall at 4200 Mills Civic Parkway lists the mayor and council, city code, development services, the library, parks, police, fire and EMS, Water Works and Westcom dispatch.
Open official site City of West Des MoinesState records
Official records and legal files 4200 Mills Civic Parkway West Des Moines IA 50265 Phone: (515) 222-3600
Open official site West Des Moines City ClerkPolice & jail
West Des Moines Police Department, with the incident reports, record requests and contacts the department publishes.
Open official site West Des Moines Police DepartmentEverything else, organized
10 more West Des Moines sources not listed above.
Local record guide
Local profile
West Des Moines, a place of 68,723 people, is in Polk County, whose county seat is Des Moines. Court and property records sit with Polk County, and birth and death certificates come from the State of Iowa. West Des Moines's own offices are in the cards above, and our Polk County page lists each county office.
Abandoned mine records
Where the workings are, and the office that holds the mine maps.
From the old mine records
The mine records hold 5 mine sites inside the city or town limits: 2 past producers, now closed, 2 sites producing when the record was made, 1 processing plant, which is not a working; the old survey maps add 8 holes drawn inside the city or town limits, 0 of them shafts or tunnels. The mineral the records name is construction sand and gravel.
A point in either file is a location, not a property line: the sheet shows the opening on the surface, not the rooms under it. The record that shows what runs under a parcel is the mine map. The OSMRE National Mine Map Repository holds scanned underground mine maps and answers requests for a named mine or an area. Coal was mined in Iowa from the 1840s to 1994.
West Des Moines sits over the Western Region coal field and the coal there is medium and high volatile bituminous, worked underground in many places. The two federal files record a shaft, an adit or a deposit where one was drawn on a survey sheet or catalogued as a site; neither file carries the outline of the workings, so the counts above are not the measure of what was mined under this town. The record that shows it is the mine map, held by Iowa DNR Iowa Coal Mines map and linked below.
Iowa abandoned mine maps ranks every county and town in the state by the workings recorded inside it, names the office that holds the mine maps, and says what to do if the ground moves.
Disclaimer: The mine information here is for general information only. Old mine records can be incomplete, outdated or wrong, and finding nothing here does not mean there is nothing there. Check with the mine map office named here before you rely on it, and have a qualified engineer look at any ground you are worried about. PublicRecordCenter.com assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors, omissions, or consequences arising from the use of this information.
Labor Department file
The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division closed 166 investigations with a West Des Moines address since fiscal 2005 and recorded $1,885,664 in back wages agreed for 1,984 workers. Snapshot of April 22, 2026; a case here is a finding by the Division, not a court judgment, and the city is the one written on the employer's record.
| Employer | Cases | Back wages | Workers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Master of None, LLC | 1 | $291,195 | 62 |
| ITA Group, Inc. | 1 | $269,210 | 109 |
| Merchant Investments Inc | 3 | $185,323 | 483 |
| Monterrey III, LLC | 1 | $178,306 | 26 |
| On The Rise West Des Moines, LLC | 1 | $175,710 | 444 |
| Rain King L.L.C. | 4 | $79,535 | 41 |
| Pioneer Consulting LLC | 1 | $74,355 | 2 |
| Transport Permits of Des Moines, Inc | 1 | $48,272 | 8 |
| BBMG Mills Civic Parkway | 1 | $42,524 | 77 |
| The Lyon Group | 1 | $38,001 | 4 |
| Nybble Teksolutions, Inc | 1 | $36,970 | 1 |
| Embassy Club West, LLC | 1 | $33,482 | 56 |
| Elite Dental Studio, Inc. | 1 | $31,177 | 13 |
| Maximus, Inc. | 1 | $23,140 | 29 |
| Spherion Corporation | 1 | $20,530 | 153 |
| Iowa Steak Company | 1 | $14,552 | 19 |
| Rational Surgical Solutions, LLC | 1 | $13,340 | 3 |
| Laughingcrabia Inc. | 1 | $8,692 | 20 |
| Sansam Systems, Inc. | 1 | $8,534 | 1 |
| Hubbell Homes, L.C. | 2 | $8,340 | 2 |
| Millard Construction, Inc. | 1 | $7,363 | 5 |
| 50th Street Sports, LLC | 1 | $6,934 | 21 |
| Prairie Life Center of W. Des Moines | 1 | $6,437 | 13 |
| Drake Companies, LLC | 1 | $6,111 | 1 |
| The Green Grounds Cafe, Inc. | 1 | $6,105 | 1 |
The 25 employers with the most back wages agreed, of 140 whose address on the record is in West Des Moines; 36 employers have a page of their own and open from the table, the rest show their whole record here. The 115 more with smaller records are on the Iowa wage theft records page, whose search answers for every employer in the state.
Straight answers
Open only the answer you need.
Deeds for property in West Des Moines are recorded by the Polk County Recorder, and the county office that assesses property keeps the tax values. Our Polk County page lists the county offices.
Businesses that operate in West Des Moines register with the Iowa Secretary of State, which runs the state business entity search. A local business license, where West Des Moines requires one, comes from the town or Polk County.
Same county
Use the city page when a record was created by a municipal police department or city office; use the county page for courts, deeds, vital records and jail custody.