The local economy of Iowa and its counties, metro areas and cities, from official US government data, plus daily local gas prices for the state, its counties and metro areas.
Unemployment rate
3.2%
-0.3 ptsvs a year ago
Counties: lowest Adair County 2.1%, highest Allamakee County 5.7%.
August 2026, seasonally adjusted, preliminary
Average weekly pay
$1,301
+3.9%vs a year ago
1,537,509 jobs at 110,818 business locations.
Q1 2026, all jobs
New homes permitted
12,933
-2.9%this year vs last year
Most in Polk County 3,528, Johnson County 1,414.
Homes in the last 12 months, to August 2026
People moving in
-1,538
-0.6 per 1,000residents
57,647 moved in and 59,185 moved out. Most newcomers came from Illinois.
Net people, 2022 to 2023, the newest year published
Iowa gas price
$4.27
+$1.45vs a year ago
Counties: lowest Henry County $4.00, highest Winneshiek County $4.53. Counties and metro areas
Regular, per gallon, Iowa, October 10, 2026
Newest data: -. Not seasonally adjusted: compare with the same month a year earlier. Click a row for the history of that area.
The state, its counties and metro areas, updated daily. A separate series from the weekly survey prices above.
Business locations, employees and payroll by industry, 2023. Click an industry for its US report.
Business locations
83K
-0.3%vs 2022
2023, places with paid employees
Employees
1.42M
+2.1%vs 2022
Largest sector: Manufacturing (15.8%).
2023, mid-March
Annual payroll
$79.8B
Wages and salaries paid during the year.
2023, all industries
Average pay
$56,344
Highest sector: Utilities $112,249.
Per employee per year
Share of Iowa's employees, 2023
| Industry | Employees | Average pay |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurants and Other Eating Places | 94,357 | $19,243 |
| General Medical and Surgical Hospitals | 71,141 | $66,218 |
| Employment Services | 55,114 | $44,858 |
| Grocery Stores | 47,079 | $18,497 |
| Depository Credit Intermediation | 42,313 | $76,910 |
| Animal Slaughtering and Processing | 34,010 | $56,630 |
| Insurance Carriers | 32,747 | $118,879 |
| General Freight Trucking | 30,342 | $57,118 |
| General Merchandise Stores, including Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters | 29,580 | $29,022 |
| Building Equipment Contractors | 28,556 | $72,338 |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | 24,662 | $96,442 |
| Agriculture, Construction, and Mining Machinery Manufacturing | 24,605 | $85,699 |
Most values are changed slightly to protect the privacy of single businesses; a few are withheld and shown as a range. Counties and metro areas have the same numbers in the area card above (Industries).
Offered pay in certified work-visa filings, fiscal year 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025). Click a company for its jobs and salaries.
In fiscal year 2025, employers offered a median of $96,013 a year in 2,087 certified H-1B filings for jobs in Iowa, up 8.2% from 2024 (US: $120,000). The largest job group was Software Developers. Fiscal year 2026 so far covers filings decided through Jun 30, 2026.
Median offered pay
$96,013
+8.2%vs 2024
Middle half: $75,000 to $122,000.
H-1B, fiscal year 2025
H-1B filings
2,087
+7.0%vs 2024
2,633 positions asked for.
Certified, full-time, fiscal year 2025
Top job group
$105,000
Software Developers, 558 filings.
Median offered pay of the largest job group
Green card jobs
$85,467
+98.3%vs 2024
591 PERM filings.
PERM median, fiscal year 2025
Median and middle half of the offers in Iowa, next to the US median. Hover a year for the numbers.
| Job group | Filings | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Software Developers | 558 | $105,000 |
| Geographic Information Systems Technologists and Technicians | 151 | $102,294 |
| Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists | 85 | $61,526 |
| Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Workers, All Other | 71 | $78,800 |
| Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers | 68 | $80,500 |
| Data Scientists | 65 | $100,000 |
| Physicians, All Other | 61 | $276,000 |
| Industrial Engineers | 48 | $92,000 |
| Mechanical Engineers | 43 | $85,654 |
| General Internal Medicine Physicians | 37 | $276,702 |
| Employer | Filings | Cities |
|---|---|---|
| The University of Iowa | 304 | 8 |
| Rockwell Collins Inc. | 130 | 1 |
| Cognizant Technology Solutions US Corp. CTSH | 95 | 9 |
| Iowa State University of Science and Technology | 93 | 1 |
| Deere and Company DE | 46 | 9 |
| Maharishi International University | 35 | 1 |
| Siri Consultancy Services, Inc. | 31 | 2 |
| Genesis Health System | 30 | 1 |
| Ernst & Young U.S. LLP | 23 | 6 |
| Iowa Physicians Clinic Medical Foundation | 21 | 4 |
| City | Filings | Median pay | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iowa City | 303 | $84,800 | $69,400 to $195,000 |
| Des Moines | 262 | $99,723 | $80,538 to $120,640 |
| Cedar Rapids | 255 | $108,139 | $90,189 to $126,090 |
| West Des Moines | 196 | $102,520 | $88,600 to $128,960 |
| Ames | 145 | $85,000 | $65,000 to $100,995 |
| Johnston | 94 | $103,220 | $91,276 to $125,063 |
| Urbandale | 58 | $106,122 | $95,300 to $125,910 |
| Waukee | 58 | $102,294 | $95,618 to $123,663 |
| Davenport | 58 | $80,851 | $69,306 to $105,500 |
| Fairfield | 48 | $69,000 | $57,958 to $72,000 |
Yearly pay that employers offered in certified work-visa filings (H-1B, E-3 and PERM green card), from official public data. Pay is the lower end of the offered pay range, for full-time positions only. These are offered pay figures for positions in work-visa filings, not the pay of all employees. A filing is an offer for a position, not a hire, and one person can appear in several filings. Fiscal years run from October to September. Groups with fewer than 3 filings show counts only. Employers are ranked by filings in the cities of Iowa added up.
Declared disasters and flood insurance claims: what happened, from official public data.
Iowa has had 79 declared disasters and emergencies since 1953, 46 of them since 2000, most often Severe Storm. Flood insurance has paid $358.2 million on 14,788 claims since 1978; the biggest year was 2008 ($169.2 million).
Declared disasters
46
42 major disasters. Most often Severe Storm (34 since 1953).
Since 2000, all types; 79 since 1953
Flood claims paid
$69.6M
2,078 claims. Biggest year 2008 ($169.2M).
2016 to 2025, flood insurance
Policies in force
9,248
Average premium $1,221 a year.
2025, flood insurance policies
Most-declared county
17
Cherokee County, latest Jun 24, 2024.
Declarations since 2000
Declarations for Iowa, 1953 to today
Claims paid in Iowa by the year of the flood, US dollars
Declarations since 1953
Declarations naming the county since 2000; statewide ones not counted
All years since 1978; policies are a yearly average. Top 15 of 90.
| # | County | Claims | Paid | Policies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Linn County | 1,351 | $69.4M | 1,938 |
| 2 | Polk County | 1,550 | $38.5M | 1,285 |
| 3 | Scott County | 2,267 | $34.9M | 1,106 |
| 4 | Johnson County | 446 | $31.9M | 724 |
| 5 | Black Hawk County | 1,472 | $27.3M | 858 |
| 6 | Bremer County | 643 | $14.8M | 322 |
| 7 | Story County | 286 | $13.1M | 224 |
| 8 | Pottawattamie County | 867 | $11.1M | 1,106 |
| 9 | Fremont County | 233 | $10.7M | 138 |
| 10 | Des Moines County | 352 | $9.37M | 273 |
| 11 | Butler County | 316 | $7.43M | 225 |
| 12 | Mills County | 121 | $6.16M | 113 |
| 13 | Muscatine County | 355 | $5.64M | 229 |
| 14 | Clay County | 78 | $5.48M | 83 |
| 15 | Louisa County | 120 | $4.48M | 170 |
A declaration opens federal help after a disaster; it can name counties or the whole state. Flood insurance numbers count insured losses only (most homes have no flood insurance) and are not adjusted for inflation; the current year is data so far. For the flood-zone risk of a place, open the area on the real estate map.
Environmental compliance records, workplace safety inspections and greenhouse gas reports of facilities in Iowa, from official public data.
Official public data lists 5,381 facilities in Iowa with records since 2010, 5,322 of them with environmental compliance records. In 2022 to 2026, the largest penalties were at Equistar Chemicals in Clinton ($821,570). 182 large facilities reported 43.7 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2023, down 2.2% from 2022.
Facilities with records
5,381
5,322 with environmental records.
Since 2010
Largest penalties
$822K
Equistar Chemicals, Clinton.
One facility, 2022 to 2026
Greenhouse gases
43.7M t
-2.2%vs 2022
182 reporting facilities.
Metric tons CO2e, 2023
Largest emitter
5.75M t
Walter Scott Jr Energy Ctr, Council Bluffs.
Metric tons CO2e, 2023
| Facility | Penalties | Violations |
|---|---|---|
| Equistar Chemicals Clinton | $821,570 | 5 |
| Loparex, INC Iowa City | $355,500 | 5 |
| The Andersons Denison Ethanol, LLC Denison | $209,241 | 3 |
| Van Diest Supply CO Webster City | $208,797 | 6 |
| Ioway Creek Restoration and Flood Mitigation Project Ames | $165,000 | 0 |
| Smithco Manufacturing Incorporated Le Mars | $118,000 | 7 |
| Quad Cnty Corn Processors Galva | $100,000 | 6 |
| Dcw Casing LLC Oelwein | $98,135 | 9 |
| Poet Biorefining - Menlo Menlo | $89,860 | 4 |
| Estes Express Des Moines Terminal (Dmo) 137 Des Moines | $75,000 | 4 |
| Facility | Metric tons CO2e |
|---|---|
| Walter Scott Jr Energy Ctr Council Bluffs | 5,752,624 |
| Midamerican Energy - Louisa Generating Station Muscatine | 3,691,041 |
| Ipl - Ottumwa Generating Station Ottumwa | 3,426,759 |
| CF Industries Nitrogen, LLC - Port Neal Complex Sergeant Bluff | 3,191,237 |
| Archer Daniels Midland Company - Cedar Rapids Cedar Rapids | 2,746,519 |
| Archer Daniels Midland Company (Clinton) Clinton | 1,945,777 |
| Sutherland Marshalltown | 1,522,582 |
| Koch Fertilizer Wever, LLC Wever | 1,350,065 |
| George Neal North Sergeant Bluff | 1,322,338 |
| Emery Generating Station Clear Lake | 1,201,117 |
Large facilities in Iowa, metric tons of CO2 equivalent. Hover a year for the number.
Their facilities in Iowa, 2022 to 2026. Click a company for its Risk & Compliance tab.
| Company | Facilities | Penalties | CO2e (t) |
|---|---|---|---|
| LyondellBasell Industries N.v. LYB | 1 | $822K | 503K |
| Archer-Daniels-Midland Company ADM | 5 | $20K | 4.80M |
| Alliant Energy Corporation LNT | 10 | $15K | 3.36M |
| Valero Energy Corporation VLO | 5 | $10K | 892K |
| Berkshire Hathaway Inc. BRK-B | 20 | $0 | 15.3M |
Official public data on environmental compliance records, workplace safety inspections and greenhouse gas reports, summarized by facility and year since 2010. A record does not mean a site is unsafe today; penalties and violations vary a lot by industry and size. Penalties are the amounts assessed (after settlements), not amounts paid. Recent years can still change.
Cost, students and graduate earnings of the colleges in the state, from official public data.
The newest unemployment rate, pay, new home permits, moves and gas price for Iowa, updated as new official numbers come out.
Unemployment for Iowa is seasonally adjusted; for its counties, metro areas and cities it is not, so compare a month with the same month a year earlier. Pay covers all jobs that pay into unemployment insurance. Building permits count homes approved to be built, not homes sold. Moves count households by where they filed their tax returns in two years in a row. Daily gas prices are average pump prices for Iowa, its counties and metro areas on the day shown. The weekly gas prices in the explorer come from a separate weekly survey that publishes a price for only some states, so a state without one shows the price of its region there; the two series are never combined.
The unemployment rate in Iowa was 3.2% in August 2026 (seasonally adjusted, preliminary), compared with 3.5% a year earlier. 1,669,600 people were employed out of a labor force of 1,724,263. Among its counties, Adair County had the lowest rate (2.1%) and Allamakee County the highest (5.7%, not seasonally adjusted).
Average weekly pay in Iowa was $1,301 in Q1 2026, up 3.9% from a year earlier, across 1,537,509 jobs at 110,818 business locations.
Building permits were issued for 1,142 new homes in Iowa in August 2026 (682 single-family and 384 in buildings with 5 or more units). From January to August the total was 8,831, down 2.9% from the same months last year, and 12,933 in the last 12 months. The most homes were permitted in Polk County (3,528), Johnson County (1,414), Dallas County (1,045) over the last 12 months.
No, more people moved out than in. From 2022 to 2023, 57,647 people moved to Iowa and 59,185 moved away, a net loss of 1,538 (-0.6 per 1,000 residents). Most newcomers came from Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, and most people who left went to Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota.
Regular gasoline in Iowa averaged $4.27 per gallon on October 10, 2026, up $1.45 from a year earlier. Diesel averaged $6.00. Among its counties, Henry County had the lowest regular price ($4.00) and Winneshiek County the highest ($4.53).
Manufacturing (224,293 employees), Health Care and Social Assistance (220,971 employees), Retail Trade (187,097 employees) were the largest sectors in Iowa in 2023. In all, 83,321 business locations employed 1,415,652 people at an average pay of $56,344 a year.
$96,013 a year was the median pay offered in 2,087 certified H-1B filings for jobs in Iowa in fiscal year 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025), up 8.2% from 2024. The middle half of the offers ranged from $75,000 to $122,000. The US median was $120,000. These are offered pay figures in work-visa filings, not the pay of all workers.
The University of Iowa (304), Rockwell Collins Inc. (130), Cognizant Technology Solutions US Corp. (95), Iowa State University of Science and Technology (93), Deere and Company (46) had the most certified H-1B filings for jobs in Iowa in fiscal year 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025).
Software Developers (558 filings, median $105,000), Geographic Information Systems Technologists and Technicians (151 filings, median $102,294), Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists (85 filings, median $61,526) were the largest job groups in certified H-1B filings in Iowa in fiscal year 2025.
$108,139 was the median offered pay in Cedar Rapids, the highest among the Iowa cities with the most H-1B filings in fiscal year 2025 (255 filings).
$85,467 a year was the median pay offered in 591 certified PERM green card filings for jobs in Iowa in fiscal year 2025.
79 disasters and emergencies have been declared for Iowa since 1953, 46 of them since 2000 (42 major disasters). The most common type is Severe Storm (34 declarations).
Cherokee County, with 17 declarations since 2000, followed by Des Moines County (17) and Palo Alto County (17). Statewide declarations are not counted for single counties.
$358.2 million on 14,788 flood insurance claims since 1978. The biggest year was 2008, with $169.2 million paid on 3,267 claims. Linn County received the most ($69.4 million).
$1,221 a year in 2025, across 9,248 flood insurance policies in Iowa. Most homes have no flood insurance; the premium depends on the home's flood risk and coverage.