How many people are employed in Iowa?

According to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data, Iowa has 1,306,260 employees across 78,571 business establishments in 763 tracked industries.

What are the largest industries in Iowa?

The largest industries in Iowa by employment are General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (71,141), Full-Service Restaurants (44,032), and Limited-Service Restaurants (41,152).

What is the average payroll in Iowa?

Average payroll per employee varies widely by industry in Iowa. The highest-paying tracked industry is Commodity Contracts Dealing at $167,333/yr. All data is from Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023.

How many businesses operate in Iowa?

Iowa has 78,571 business establishments across 763 industries tracked by the Census Bureau County Business Patterns program. Each establishment represents a single physical location or operating unit.

State overview · IA · Census CBP 2023

Iowa Industry Benchmarks

Name: Iowa Industry Employment and Payroll Benchmarks
Creator: PlainBizBench
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Employment, establishments, and payroll for 763 industries in Iowa. Drill into any industry for a Iowa-specific view, then cross-reference the national page for margins.

Compiled by PlainBizBench

1.3M
Workers: 79K
Establishments: 763
Industries tracked

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · Iowa

Iowa employs 1,306,260 workers across 763 tracked industries, led by General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (71,141 workers).

No single sector dominates Iowa (lead 17%; top-three 48%). Margins stay on national industry pages.

Iowa sector employment mix

Share of private-sector employment by NAICS-2 sector (Census CBP 2023). Tile area = workers.

Iowa private employment by sector · Census CBP 2023

Iowa spreads employment across sectors: the largest, Manufacturing, is only 17% of 1,306,260 private-sector workers (about the 39th percentile of states by employment). No single NAICS-2 block dominates the private labor market here.

IA breadth ledger · HHI 0.108
Sector	Workers	Share
Manufacturing (31)	224,293	17%
Health Care and Social Assistance (62)	220,971	17%
Retail Trade (44)	187,097	14%
Top-three cumulative 48% - no single NAICS-2 block dominates.

Profit margins are national (IRS SOI); open any industry row below, then the matching national industry page for profitability.

Census CBP firm roll

County Business Patterns IA DISTRIBUTED · CBP

#31/51 · 1,306,260 workers · 78,571 firms

EMP 1,306,260
EST 78,571
RANK #31/51
PCT 39th pct
LEAD Manufacturing
SHARE 17% lead
BAND distributed
DENS 16.6 /firm
BOOK 763 NAICS
PHOTO Nevada

Nearest employment-scale peer: Nevada (1,298,196 workers)

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Iowa ranks #31 of 51 states and territories by total private-sector employment (level-2 sector totals, the same non-double-counted aggregate shown above). Margins stay on national industry pages (IRS SOI). Read with this state → · Lead 6-digit industry →

Census CBP level-2 private employment among this state and nearest nationwide peers

Top Industries by Employment

Industry	Employment	Establishments	Annual Payroll	Avg Payroll/Emp
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals NAICS 622110	71,141	127	$4.7B	$66,218/yr
Full-Service Restaurants NAICS 722511	44,032	2,459	$909.7M	$20,660/yr
Limited-Service Restaurants NAICS 722513	41,152	2,095	$757.3M	$18,402/yr
Commercial Banking NAICS 522110	37,593	1,419	$2.9B	$77,868/yr
General Freight Trucking, Long-Distance, Truckload NAICS 484121	23,850	921	$1.3B	$56,022/yr
Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices NAICS 551114	23,836	395	$2.3B	$96,713/yr
Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists) NAICS 621111	23,102	1,033	$2.3B	$100,119/yr
Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities) NAICS 623110	21,145	333	$826.3M	$39,077/yr
Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools NAICS 611310	20,014	60	$619.2M	$30,936/yr
Temporary Help Services NAICS 561320	18,941	325	$721.7M	$38,105/yr
Religious Organizations NAICS 813110	17,337	2,948	$400.9M	$23,126/yr
General Warehousing and Storage NAICS 493110	15,120	196	$777.6M	$51,428/yr
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors NAICS 238220	14,647	1,108	$1.1B	$71,742/yr
New Car Dealers NAICS 441110	13,757	326	$949.9M	$69,051/yr
Child Day Care Services NAICS 624410	13,051	895	$276.7M	$21,205/yr
Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels NAICS 721110	11,944	729	$303.9M	$25,446/yr
Direct Property and Casualty Insurance Carriers NAICS 524126	11,768	207	$1.1B	$95,685/yr
Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors NAICS 238210	11,755	902	N/A	N/A
Continuing Care Retirement Communities NAICS 623311	11,251	116	$406.7M	$36,152/yr
Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities NAICS 624120	10,481	363	$308.4M	$29,424/yr

Breadth peers near Iowa's private employment

Nearest other states by Census CBP level-2 private employment (1,306,260 in Iowa), excluding IA.

Nevada 1,298,196 Oklahoma 1,358,788 Kansas 1,248,825 Utah 1,512,504 Connecticut 1,527,746 Arkansas 1,072,827 Oregon 1,635,645 Mississippi 955,942

Disclaimer: Iowa (IA) figures on this page are Census CBP employment and payroll counts for informational registry use only, not financial, tax, or business advice. Consult a qualified accountant for decisions about Iowa businesses.

Source: Census Bureau County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023 · IA

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from official public datasets for Iowa (IA). See our methodology.

Verify with U.S. Census Bureau → · Verify with IRS SOI →