Portal:Iowa
The Iowa Portal
Iowa (/ˈaɪ.əwə/ ⓘ EYE-ə-wə, Lakota: Ayúȟwa) is a landlocked 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 3,190,369, according to the 2020 census. 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. Iowa has been listed as one of the safest U.S. states to live in.
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, people 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. As of 2018, 22.6 million hogs outnumbered Iowans by more than 7 to 1 in 8,000 facilities large enough to require manure management plans. (Full article...)
Selected article -
Thomas James Vilsack (/ˈvɪlsæk/; born December 13, 1950) is an American politician serving as the 32nd United States secretary of agriculture in the Biden administration. He previously served in the role from 2009 to 2017 during the Obama administration. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 40th governor of Iowa from 1999 to 2007. During his tenure, Iowa experienced a peak in new CAFO construction.
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 an Iowa TV station operates from a former McDonald's restaurant?
- ... that during the 1984 Democratic presidential primaries, Alan Cranston scheduled his advertisements in Iowa around airings of The Day After?
- ... that William Miller Beardshear was known as the "father of Iowa State College", now known as Iowa State University?
- ... that Iowa radio station KFQC was said to change programming and ownership "almost as regularly as dental check-ups are recommended"?
- ... that a tradition is for singers of the Iowa Corn Song (audio featured) to raise their arms above their head when the words "tall corn" are sung during the chorus's last line?
- ... that years after it closed, the studios of an Iowa TV station became the headquarters for the state police radio network?
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State Facts
- Date admitted to Union: December 28, 1846 (29th State)
- Demonym: Iowan
- Capital: Des Moines
- Elected state officers:
- Governor: Kim Reynolds (R)
- Lieutenant Governor: Adam Gregg (R)
- Secretary of State: Paul Pate (R)
- Auditor: Rob Sand (D)
- Treasurer: Roby Smith (R)
- Secretary of Agriculture: Mike Naig (R)
- Attorney General: Brenna Bird (R)
- 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)
- Land: 55,869 square miles (144,700 km2)
- Water: 402 square miles (1,041 km2)
- 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: |