Iowa data sets

American Community Survey figures on how people live and work in every Iowa census block group — a neighborhood-sized area of roughly 1,200 people. Covers income, poverty, education, employment, commuting (how people get to work, what time they leave home, and whether they work in their own town, county or state), vehicle access, housing cost, internet access and health insurance, including Medicaid, in six five-year releases spanning 2010 through 2024, all reported on 2020 boundaries so the periods can be compared. These are survey estimates rather than a complete count, so figures for any one small area are approximate.

Population, race and ethnicity, and housing occupancy for every Iowa census block group — a neighborhood-sized area of roughly 1,200 people — at the 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2020 censuses. All four years are reported on 2020 boundaries, so a neighborhood can be tracked across three decades of growth or decline. The census is a complete count rather than a survey, so there are no sampling margins of error — but the earlier figures were apportioned onto those 2020 boundaries, which carries an uncertainty of its own, and the data set records how much of each neighborhood's figure was apportioned that way.

Boundaries of Iowa's census block groups as drawn for the 2020 census. A block group is the smallest area the Census Bureau publishes socioeconomic data for — roughly 600 to 3,000 people, about 1,200 in Iowa, typically a few residential streets — and it is the geography the census population and American Community Survey figures are mapped on.

Iowa's 99 counties as the Census Bureau draws them, with each county's land and water area and the freight region it belongs to in the Commodity Flow Survey (CFS), the Bureau's survey of goods shipped by businesses. The freight regions are the ones the Freight Analysis Framework's flows are reported for, so this is how a county is placed in those flows, and it is a reliable county outline and name list for mapping or summarizing anything else by county.

The Census Bureau's official estimate of how many people of each age, sex, race and Hispanic origin lived in each Iowa county on July 1 of every year since 1970. Use it to see how a county is ageing, how many children, working-age adults or older residents it has and how that has changed, or how its racial and ethnic make-up has shifted over half a century. The years before 2020 are the Bureau's revised figures for those decades, made after each census; the earlier decades distinguish fewer races, and the 1970s and 1980s do not record Hispanic origin.

The Census Bureau's official population estimate for each Iowa county on July 1 of every year since 1970, with what drove each year's change since 2000: births, deaths, people moving in from abroad and people moving in from or out to the rest of the country. Use it for a county's current population, for half a century of growth or decline, and for whether a county is growing because people are moving there or because births outnumber deaths. The years before 2020 are the Bureau's revised figures for those decades, made after each census, and the 1970 and 1980 censuses' own counts are kept beside them.

The divisions of each Iowa county as the Census Bureau draws them each year: townships and towns in the states where those are local governments, and statistical county divisions where they are not. Together they cover the whole state with no gaps, so they are the local unit for mapping or summarizing anything across rural and urban areas alike, and each one's current population is in the Bureau's annual population estimates, which join to these outlines.

The Census Bureau's official population estimate for every Iowa city, village and town, and for every township or town where those are local governments, on July 1 of every year since 1990, with the 1980 and 1990 censuses' counts beside them. Use it for a municipality's current population, to rank places by size or growth, or to see which communities have been gaining or losing people over four decades. The years from 2000 to 2019 are the Bureau's revised figures for those decades, made after the 2010 and 2020 censuses; the 1990s figures were never revised.

The boundaries of Iowa's cities, villages, boroughs and towns as the Census Bureau draws them each year, together with the named unincorporated communities it calls census-designated places. Use them to outline a municipality on the map, to find which city or village a road, bridge or facility is in, or to summarize anything else by city and village. Each place's current population is in the Bureau's annual population estimates, which join to these outlines.

Iowa's five-digit ZIP Code areas as the Census Bureau draws them for the 2020 census, called ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs). They are the closest public outline of a ZIP Code: use them to place an address, a street or a facility given by ZIP Code on the map, or to summarize anything else by ZIP Code. They approximate the Postal Service's delivery areas rather than reproduce them, and ZIP Codes that serve only post office boxes or a single building have none.

A directory matching each of Iowa's 99 counties to the freight region it belongs to. Iowa is divided into two freight regions — Des Moines and the remainder of the state — and this is how you find which one a given county falls in.

The list of transportation modes used in the freight flow data — truck, rail, water, air, pipeline, multiple modes and mail — so freight volumes can be reported by how the goods actually move.

Estimated freight moving to, from and within Iowa in 2022: how much tonnage and how much value travels between each pair of origin and destination regions, broken out by what the commodity is and how it moves, including truck, rail, water, air, pipeline and multiple-mode shipments. Domestic shipments, imports arriving in Iowa and exports leaving from Iowa are all included. These are shipments between regions, not traffic measured on any particular highway; for designated freight routes see the National Highway Freight Network.

The regions used throughout the freight flow data: 134 areas covering the United States plus 8 world regions for international trade. Iowa is split into two of them — Des Moines and the remainder of the state — and those two are the ones drawn on the map. Each is a group of whole counties, so they do not line up with metropolitan planning organization boundaries, census urban areas or state transportation department districts.

Plain-English names for the commodity groups used in the freight flow data — the Standard Classification of Transported Goods, 42 categories running from cereal grains and coal through machinery, motorized vehicles and mixed freight. Use it to report freight volumes by what is being shipped.

The transit agencies whose fixed-route service reaches Iowa, with each one's headquarters and its National Transit Database ID, the key to its ridership, service and cost figures.

The paths of the fixed-route bus, rail, streetcar, subway and ferry services that run in Iowa, as the transit agencies publish them, compiled nationally by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Good for seeing where transit runs, which kinds of service reach an area, and how far each route goes.

Every fixed-route transit stop and station in Iowa, with the kinds of service that call there and whether the agency marks it wheelchair accessible. Good for measuring who lives or works within walking distance of transit, and where accessible boarding is missing.

Every public elementary and secondary school in Iowa, charter schools included, with its location, the grades it teaches, how many students it enrolls by grade and race, its teachers, and how many of its students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, for each school year since 2017–18. Good for planning around schools: safe routes and walking distance, bus and transit access, the traffic a school draws, where enrollment is growing or shrinking, and where low-income students are concentrated.

How many new homes building permits authorized in each Iowa county every year since 1990, split into single-family houses, duplexes, small 3–4 unit buildings and apartment buildings of five units or more, with the number of buildings and their construction value. Use it to see where housing is being added, how fast, and in what form, as an early sign of growth in households, travel demand and school enrollment, and to compare counties or follow one county's building boom or slowdown over three decades.

How many new homes each Iowa city, village, township, town or county permit office authorized every year since 1992, split into single-family houses, duplexes, small 3–4 unit buildings and apartment buildings of five units or more, with the number of buildings and their construction value. Use it to find the communities where housing growth is concentrated, to follow one community's development over time, and to anticipate the new trips, utility demand and school enrollment that new homes bring below the county level.