Portal:Iowa
The Iowa Portal

Iowa (/ˈaɪ.əwə/ ⓘ EYE-ə-wə) is a state in the upper Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the east and southeast, Missouri to the south, Nebraska to the west, South Dakota to the northwest, and Minnesota to the north.
Iowa is the 26th largest in total area and the 31st most populous of the 50 U.S. states, with a population of 3.19 million. The state's capital, most populous city, and largest metropolitan area fully located within the state is Des Moines. A portion of the larger Omaha, Nebraska, metropolitan area extends into three counties of southwest Iowa. Other metropolitan statistical areas in Iowa include Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Ames, Dubuque, Sioux City, and the Iowa portion of the Quad Cities. Iowa is home to 940 small towns, though its population is increasingly urbanized as small communities and rural areas decline in population.
During the 18th and early 19th centuries, Iowa was a part of French Louisiana and Spanish Louisiana; its state flag is patterned after the flag of France. After the Louisiana Purchase, pioneers laid the foundation for an agriculture-based economy in the heart of the Corn Belt. In the latter half of the 20th century, Iowa's agricultural economy began to transition to a diversified economy of advanced manufacturing, processing, financial services, information technology, biotechnology, and green energy production.
Politically, Iowa is notable for the Iowa Caucuses, an influential event in national politics, as well as its high levels of voter turnout and foundational leadership in civil rights including early adoption or support of black suffrage, women's rights, and same-sex marriage. Iowa's standard of living is ranked among the best states and it performs highly on metrics such as governance, education, infrastructure, and safety. (Full article...)
Selected article -
Thomas James Vilsack (/ˈvɪlsæk/; born December 13, 1950) is an American politician. He served as the 30th and 32nd United States secretary of agriculture from 2009 to 2017, during the Obama administration, and again from 2021 to 2025 during the Biden administration. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 40th governor of Iowa from 1999 to 2007.
On November 30, 2006, he formally launched his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2008 election, but ended his bid on February 23, 2007. President-elect Barack Obama announced Vilsack's selection to be Secretary of Agriculture on December 17, 2008. His nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate by unanimous consent on January 20, 2009. Until his January 13, 2017 resignation one week prior to the end of Obama's second term as president, he had been the only member of the U.S. Cabinet who had served since the day Obama originally took office. (Full article...)
Did you know? -
- ... that Alice Ilgenfritz Jones was one of "Two Women of the West" from Iowa who wrote the 1893 feminist utopian novel Unveiling a Parallel?
- ... that an Iowa TV station was paid for by surplus Manhattan Project funds?
- ... that for 19 years Tonya Burns had the only retired jersey number in Iowa State women's basketball history?
- ... that an Iowa TV station operates from a former McDonald's restaurant?
- ... that the Iowa Colored Cowboys played softball for audiences of over a thousand people, in an atmosphere similar to a Harlem Globetrotters show?
- ... that S. H. M. Byers not only coined the phrase "Sherman's March to the Sea", but also wrote Iowa's state song?
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State Facts
- Date admitted to Union: December 28, 1846 (29th State)
- Demonym: Iowan
- Capital: Des Moines
- Elected state officers:
- U.S. Senators:
- Chuck Grassley (R)
- Joni Ernst (R)
- U.S. Representatives:
- Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R)
- Ashley Hinson (R)
- Zach Nunn (R)
- Randy Feenstra (R)
- Total area: 56,272 square miles (145,744 km2) (23rd most extensive state)
- Highest elevation: Hawkeye Point 1,670 feet (509 m) (42nd highest state)
- Mean elevation: 1,100 feet (335 m) (22nd highest state)
- Lowest elevation: Mississippi River 480 feet (146 m) (37th lowest state)
- Population (2022 estimate): 3,200,517 (32nd most populous state)
- Number of counties: 99 counties
- Number of municipalities: 947 municipalities
- Time zone: CST=UTC-06, CDT=UTC-05
- USPS code: IA
- ISO 3166 code: US-IA
- Adjacent states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota
- State government website: Iowa.gov
State Symbols
State flag: | ![]() |
State seal: | ![]() |
State motto: | Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain |
State nickname: | The Hawkeye State |
State bird: | Eastern Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) |
State flower: | Wild Prairie Rose (Rosa pratincola) |
State grass: | Bluebunch Wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata) |
State tree: | Oak (Quercus macrocarpa) |
State rock: | Geode |
State soil: | Tama |
State song: | The Song of Iowa |
State tartan: | Iowa State Tartan |
Commemorative U.S. coin: |
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- List of mayors of Cedar Rapids, Iowa (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by M2545 (talk · contribs · new pages (45)) started on 2025-04-26, score: 20
- Charles W. Pugsley (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Engineerchange (talk · contribs · new pages (20)) started on 2025-04-26, score: 30
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- List of mayors of Council Bluffs, Iowa (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by M2545 (talk · contribs · new pages (45)) started on 2025-04-26, score: 20
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- Quirinus Breen (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by StAnselm (talk · contribs · new pages (19)) started on 2025-04-25, score: 20
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