Iowa

Iowa is a Midwestern U.S. state of about 3.24 million people (July 1, 2025 estimate), admitted to the Union as the 29th state on December 28, 1846. More than nine-tenths of its land is devoted to agriculture, and it remains the nation’s leading producer of corn — with a record 2.77-billion-bushel harvest in 2025 — while also growing into a major insurance and financial-services hub centered on Greater Des Moines.

A Midwestern state built on agriculture

Iowa is bounded by the Mississippi River on its entire eastern border and the Missouri River (with its tributary the Big Sioux) on the west — the only U.S. state with two parallel rivers as borders. The capital is Des Moines, the state’s largest city (214,133 in 2020); other large cities include Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Waterloo, and Sioux City. The state name derives from the Iowa Native American people who once inhabited the area.

The numbers tell the farm story. In 2022, Iowa generated about $46.6 billion in agricultural cash receipts — corn $16.2B, hogs $11.2B, soybeans $9.0B, cattle and calves $5.5B, chicken eggs $2.0B — from 30 million acres of farmland (84% of the state) spread over 86,800 farms averaging 346 acres. Agricultural production and processing industries accounted for 12.6% of total state GDP (University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture). Top farm exports: soybeans, corn, and pork.

2025 set records. Despite derecho winds, disease, and record rainfall, Iowa farmers harvested a record 2.77 billion bushels of corn — beating the 2016 record of 2.74B — at an average yield of 210 bushels per acre, and 595.6 million bushels of soybeans, the third-largest Iowa harvest on record, with a record yield of 63.5 bushels per acre. Iowa remains the largest U.S. corn grower, 418 million bushels ahead of second-place Illinois, and the second-biggest soybean grower. About half of the state’s corn crop goes to biofuel: Iowa produced 4.6 billion gallons of ethanol in 2025, the most nationally (USDA data via the Des Moines Register, January 2026).

Beyond the farm: insurance, finance, and diversification

The 1980s collapse of farm and land values forced Iowa to diversify, and by the end of the 20th century the state was emphasizing banking, insurance, biotechnology, and R&D (Britannica). The centerpiece is Greater Des Moines: finance and insurance contributed $25.3 billion of the region’s $90 billion GDP in 2024, and the region has the highest concentration of insurance employment among U.S. metros, with more than 80 of Iowa’s insurance companies headquartered there — including Principal, Nationwide, EMC, Athene, and F&G. Iowa’s insurance premium tax is being lowered from 1% to 0.9% by 2027, among the lowest in the nation (Greater Des Moines Partnership).

Politics and public life

Since 1972, Iowa’s caucuses have been the first in the nation to select delegates for presidential nominating conventions, giving the state an outsized role in U.S. presidential politics every four years. The state holds 4 of 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and sits in the Central time zone. The University of Iowa was the first public university in the country to admit men and women on an equal basis.

FAQ

Why is Iowa called the Hawkeye State? It is one of two official nicknames (the other is the Corn State), per Britannica; the state motto is “Our Liberties We Prize and Our Rights We Will Maintain.”

How big is Iowa’s corn harvest? A record 2.77 billion bushels in 2025 — enough to keep Iowa the largest corn grower in the United States, 418 million bushels ahead of Illinois.

What does Iowa export? Mainly soybeans, corn, and pork — chiefly to Canada, Mexico, and Japan.

Is Iowa only about farming? No. Agriculture is the signature, but finance and insurance are the other pillar: Greater Des Moines is one of the top U.S. insurance centers, with finance/insurance contributing $25.3 billion to the region’s 2024 GDP.

When is Iowa’s first-in-the-nation political role? Iowa’s caucuses have kicked off presidential-nominating delegate selection since 1972.

What this profile does not claim

• The profile does not go into tribal history beyond the state name’s origin — it covers Iowa the state, not the Iowa people.
• A state-GDP figure ($238.3B) seen on the UADA page carried no vintage year and is not cited here.
• The governor’s name is omitted from the facts box since officeholders churn; it was current per Britannica as of October 2026.
• “Iowa caucuses” are not primaries; the first-in-the-nation claim is phrased exactly as Britannica states it.