The Jefferson

The neighborhood

Living in South Des Moines

Des Moines is the largest city in Iowa, and the south side is its old, settled half, south of the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers. The Jefferson sits on SE 14th Street, the corridor that does the south side's everyday shopping.

The city and the south side

Des Moines had 214,133 residents at the 2020 census, the most of any city in Iowa, and it is the seat of Polk County. The south side is a broad local name rather than one official neighborhood: the older blocks between the rivers and Army Post Road, reaching out toward Easter Lake and the airport. It is known for being affordable and settled, and for Italian-American roots on the near south side.

SE 14th Street is its spine. The street is also U.S. Highway 69, which is why the shopping, the groceries and the gas gather along it rather than scattering.

The downtown Des Moines skyline seen from the south
Downtown Des Moines, north of the south side. Photo: BarbaraLN, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Where The Jefferson sits

The Jefferson is at 3708–3724 SE 14th Street, on the corridor itself. A Hy-Vee is 0.5 miles up the street, a Walmart Supercenter is 1.2 miles south, and Southridge, the open-air shopping center at SE 14th and Army Post Road, is 2.2 miles. Downtown Des Moines is 3.4 miles north, and the airport is 4.0 miles west. The errands are on your street; the city is a short drive off it.

Every home is a renovated two-bedroom, one bath, about 850 square feet, with a new kitchen, a redone bath, new flooring and fresh paint, and a stove and refrigerator included. Live pricing is on the availability page.

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Questions people ask

Is The Jefferson on the south side of Des Moines?

Yes. It is at 3708–3724 SE 14th Street, on the south side's main retail corridor, with downtown Des Moines 3.4 miles north by road.

How big is Des Moines, Iowa?

214,133 people at the 2020 census, the largest city in Iowa and the seat of Polk County.

What is SE 14th Street?

The south side's main shopping corridor and also U.S. Highway 69, which is why groceries, pharmacies, gas and restaurants line it. The Jefferson is on it.

How far is The Jefferson from downtown Des Moines?

About 3.4 miles north to the Capitol and 3.7 miles to the downtown financial core. Measured by road; we give miles, not drive times.

Distances are road miles from 3712 SE 14th Street, measured with OpenStreetMap routing in October 2026. The site keeps no distance module of its own, so the route planner is the source. Population from the 2020 U.S. Census.

More about living here

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