[4] Iowa State University was home to 30,177 students as of fall 2023,[5] which make up approximately one half of the city's population.

Ames also hosts United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) sites: the largest federal animal disease center in the United States, the USDA Agricultural Research Service's National Animal Disease Center (NADC),[6] as well as one of two national USDA sites for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which comprises the National Veterinary Services Laboratory and the Center for Veterinary Biologics.

The city was founded in 1864 as a station stop on the Cedar Rapids and Missouri Railroad and was named after 19th century U.S.

[8] Ames was founded by local resident Cynthia Olive Duff (née Kellogg) and railroad magnate John Insley Blair,[9] near a location that was deemed favorable for a railroad crossing of the Skunk River and Ioway Creek.

With his wife Harriet, from 1869 to 1892, he ran Ames's first hotel, known as West House, on Douglas Avenue on the site of the present [2004] Octagon Center for the Arts.

[10] Ames is located along the western edge of Story County, roughly 30 miles (48 km) north of the state capital, Des Moines, near the intersection of Interstate 35 and U.S. Route 30.

Also passing through Ames is the cross country line of the Union Pacific Railroad and two small streams (the South Skunk River and Ioway Creek).

Campustown is the neighborhood directly south of Iowa State University Central Campus bordered by Lincoln Way on the north.

[22] The Bureau of Labor Statistics ranked Ames and Boulder, Colorado as having the lowest unemployment rate (2.5%) of any metropolitan area in the United States in 2016.

[23] By June 2018, unemployment in Ames had fallen even further, to 1.5%, though wage increases for workers were not keeping pace with rising rents.

The Iowa State Cyclones football team plays at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames.

The Iowa State Cyclones are a charter member of the Big 12 Conference in all sports and compete in NCAA Division I-A.

The club sponsors the Learn to Skate Program in which coaches provide on and off ice lessons or workshops.

The club hosts the figure skating portion of the Iowa Games competition every summer.

The Ames ISU ice arena also hosts the Iowa State Cyclones hockey team.

[32] Iowa State has produced a number of astronauts, scientists, Nobel laureates,[33] and Pulitzer Prize winners.

[35] In 1856, the Iowa General Assembly enacted legislation to establish the State Agricultural College and Model Farm.

The formal admitting of students began the following year, and the first graduating class of 1872 consisted of 24 men and 2 women.

Stephens Auditorium, Fisher Theater, Jack Trice Stadium, Lied Recreation Center, numerous residence halls, and many buildings specific to ISU's many different majors and colleges.

The Iowa State Cyclones play in the NCAA's Division I-A as a member of the Big 12 Conference.

Other stations serving Ames include KCCI, KDIN-TV, WHO-DT, KCWI-TV, KDMI, KDSM-TV and KFPX-TV.

"The purpose of Ames Public Access TV (Channel 16) is to provide residents the opportunity to broadcast locally produced programs on cable television.

APATV provides cablecasting of non-commercial, public access programming independently produced by professionals or non-professionals in either a VHS or DVD format.

The Union Pacific, successor to the C&NW, still runs 60–70 trains a day through Ames on twin mainlines, which leads to some traffic delays.

Rider fares are free for children under five, while students pay a set cost as part of their tuition.

In 2009, the Ames metropolitan statistical area (MSA) ranked as the third highest in the United States for percentage of commuters who walked to work (10.4 percent).

[40] Ames is served by Mary Greeley Medical Center, a 220-bed regional referral hospital which is adjacent to McFarland Clinic PC, central Iowa's largest physician-owned multi-specialty clinic, and also Iowa Heart Center.

The Story County Conservation center is located to the north east of Ames, along the Skunk River.

The straw poll was frequently seen by national media and party insiders as a first test of organizational strength in Iowa.

[61] In 2015, the straw poll was to be moved to nearby Boone before the Iowa Republican Party eventually decided to cancel it altogether.