Iowa
Iowa: the places inside it, the companies based here, and where this atlas has research on it.
state · population 3,190,000 (registry) · North America · page prepared 2026-11-07
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Iowa at a glance
Rolled up from the 18 regions inside Iowa on this site, with census figures from Statistics Canada.
Who leads Iowa, and how households are doing
Researched 2026-11-09 from official statistics; every figure links to its source.
- Population
- 3,238,387 persons (2025) ↗
- GDP
- 271,937.2 USD millions (current dollars, annual) (2025) ↗
- Unemployment
- 3.2 % (2026-09) ↗
- Median household income
- 81,890 USD (current dollars, CPS ASEC) (2025) ↗
- Home ownership
- 70.2 % (2025) ↗
- Debt per person with a credit report
- 47,400 USD per person with a credit report (NY Fed CCP/Equifax, via USAFacts) (2025) ↗
Home prices in the biggest cities
As each source measures them (benchmark, median or average sale price); not directly comparable across measures.
| City / metro | Price | Measure | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Des Moines (DMAAR area) ↗ | 310,000 USD | median sale | 2026-09 |
| Des Moines-West Des Moines (CBSA) ↗ | 344,900 USD | median listing price (Realtor.com) | 2026-08 |
| Cedar Rapids (CBSA) ↗ | 325,000 USD | median listing price (Realtor.com) | 2026-08 |
| Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL (CBSA) ↗ | 242,000 USD | median listing price (Realtor.com) | 2026-08 |
| Iowa City (CBSA) ↗ | 381,750 USD | median listing price (Realtor.com) | 2026-08 |
| Waterloo-Cedar Falls (CBSA) ↗ | 269,900 USD | median listing price (Realtor.com) | 2026-08 |
| Iowa (statewide) ↗ | 259,000 USD | median sale | 2026-09 |
Languages
Official-language and home-language figures as the census reports them.
| Language | Share | Measure | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| English ↗ | 91.1% | sole language spoken (Wikipedia; underlying survey year not stated) |
Largest companies in Iowa
Ranked by the measure shown, from the cited ranking or filing.
| Company | Measure | Value | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berkshire Hathaway Energy (Des Moines; subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway) ↗ | revenue | 26.198 USD billions | 2025 |
| Casey's General Stores (Ankeny) ↗ | revenue | 17.561 USD billions | FY2026 |
| Principal Financial Group (Des Moines) ↗ | revenue | 15.626 USD billions | 2025 |
| Hy-Vee (West Des Moines; private, employee-owned) ↗ | revenue | 12 USD billions | 2021 |
| HNI Corporation (Muscatine) ↗ | revenue | 2.25 USD billions | 2019 |
| Fareway (Johnston; private) ↗ | revenue | 1.5 USD billions | 2021 |
| Workiva (Ames) ↗ | revenue | 0.739 USD billions | 2024 |
| Lee Enterprises (Davenport) ↗ | revenue | 0.611 USD billions | 2024 |
Worth knowing
- 2026-11Democratic State Auditor Rob Sand won the November 3, 2026 governor's race against Republican Zach Lahn by about 11 points. It is the first Democratic win for Iowa governor since 2006. Kim Reynolds did not seek a third term. ↗
- 2017-05Kim Reynolds, Iowa's first woman governor, succeeded Terry Branstad in May 2017. She was elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022. ↗
- 2024-12Governor Reynolds appointed Lt. Governor Chris Cournoyer, a former state senator for Clinton, Jackson and Scott counties, in December 2024. ↗
- 2026-09Iowa's statewide median sale price was $259,000 in September 2026, up 7.6% from $240,700 a year earlier. Inventory was up 15% year over year. ↗
- 2026-06Iowa's GDP ran at an annual rate of $285,250.3 million (current dollars, seasonally adjusted) in Q2 2026. ↗
- 2025Iowa's homeownership rate fell to 70.2% in 2025 from 71.8% in 2024. ↗
Census
US Census Bureau American Community Survey.
- Spanish136,905 · 4.3%
- Other Asian and Pacific Island languages26,674 · 0.8%
- Other and unspecified languages17,302 · 0.5%
- German or other West Germanic languages16,736 · 0.5%
- Other Indo-European languages15,407 · 0.5%
- Russian, Polish, or other Slavic languages12,191 · 0.4%
- Arabic9,783 · 0.3%
- Chinese (incl. Mandarin, Cantonese)9,218 · 0.3%
- French, Haitian, or Cajun8,899 · 0.3%
- Vietnamese8,163 · 0.3%
Largest places in Iowa
By registry population; places with a full /local page are marked.
- 1.Des Moines, Iowa full214,133
- 2.Cedar Rapids, Iowa full137,710
- 3.Sioux City, Iowa full85,797
- 4.Iowa City, IA74,828
- 5.Ames, Iowa full66,427
- 6.Dubuque, Iowa full59,667
- 7.Moline, Illinois full42,985
- 8.Cedar Falls-Waterloo, Iowa full40,662
- 9.Mason City, Iowa full27,338
- 10.Fort Dodge, Iowa full24,871
- 11.Clinton, Iowa full24,469
- 12.Muscatine, Iowa23,797
- 13.Anamosa, Iowa5,450
- 14.Monticello, Iowa4,040
Inside Iowa
16 regions have Iowa as their parent.
Companies based in Iowa
41 companies in the Research Upon directory have their headquarters somewhere in Iowa. Search them by name or industry.
areaAbout this page: figures for the whole of Iowa are rolled up from every region inside it; each place inside has a page of its own, and the companies headquartered here are listed above.