Data / Rankings / Job creation rate / Counties in Iowa

Counties in Iowa by job creation rate

Lucas County had the highest job creation rate of 99 counties in 2019, at 24.535%. Tama County had the lowest, at 5.456%. The median was 8.812% and the figure for Iowa was 10.403%. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Keep it in a collection in your library.
Highest24.535Lucas County
Lowest5.456Tama County
Median8.81299 counties
Iowa10.403History

Map of counties, 2019

Adair County: 12.646 %Adams County: 7.379 %Allamakee County: 6.126 %Appanoose County: 11.016 %Audubon County: 9.52 %Benton County: 11.082 %Black Hawk County: 10.284 %Boone County: 10.081 %Bremer County: 6.755 %Buchanan County: 8.946 %Buena Vista County: 7.828 %Butler County: 7.861 %Calhoun County: 8.302 %Carroll County: 9.097 %Cass County: 8.773 %Cedar County: 9.726 %Cerro Gordo County: 9.44 %Cherokee County: 14.432 %Chickasaw County: 13.57 %Clarke County: 10.635 %Clay County: 7.981 %Clayton County: 7.256 %Clinton County: 7.699 %Crawford County: 8.446 %Dallas County: 9.138 %Davis County: 10.736 %Decatur County: 9.582 %Delaware County: 6.165 %Des Moines County: 8.701 %Dickinson County: 11.725 %Dubuque County: 8.212 %Emmet County: 6.424 %Fayette County: 9.363 %Floyd County: 10.251 %Franklin County: 9.502 %Fremont County: 7.388 %Greene County: 12.386 %Grundy County: 9.408 %Guthrie County: 19.474 %Hamilton County: 6.733 %Hancock County: 8.565 %Hardin County: 8.812 %Harrison County: 7.002 %Henry County: 7.622 %Howard County: 8.639 %Humboldt County: 7.686 %Ida County: 9.908 %Iowa County: 8.249 %Jackson County: 10.423 %Jasper County: 10.977 %Jefferson County: 8.642 %Johnson County: 8.258 %Jones County: 24.467 %Keokuk County: 6.838 %Kossuth County: 9.943 %Lee County: 7.73 %Linn County: 11.163 %Louisa County: 5.468 %Lucas County: 24.535 %Lyon County: 8.003 %Madison County: 11.279 %Mahaska County: 9.194 %Marion County: 10.15 %Marshall County: 8.973 %Mills County: 14.312 %Mitchell County: 7.793 %Monona County: 6.504 %Monroe County: 10.32 %Montgomery County: 12.197 %Muscatine County: 7.79 %O'Brien County: 8.678 %Osceola County: 8.29 %Page County: 6.292 %Palo Alto County: 8.67 %Plymouth County: 11.098 %Pocahontas County: 8.192 %Polk County: 11.326 %Pottawattamie County: 8.257 %Poweshiek County: 6.706 %Ringgold County: 13.218 %Sac County: 10.476 %Scott County: 10.684 %Shelby County: 6.303 %Sioux County: 8.188 %Story County: 11.589 %Tama County: 5.456 %Taylor County: 13.769 %Union County: 7.483 %Van Buren County: 5.539 %Wapello County: 8.61 %Warren County: 9.539 %Washington County: 8.832 %Wayne County: 8.183 %Webster County: 9.97 %Winnebago County: 6.496 %Winneshiek County: 6.053 %Woodbury County: 9.426 %Worth County: 6.048 %Wright County: 18.436 %
  • Under 7.1
  • 7.1 to 8.2
  • 8.2 to 8.8
  • 8.8 to 9.9
  • 9.9 to 11
  • 11 and over
%, 2019. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

Top 40 counties, 2019

Lucas County: 24.535 %Lucas County24.535Jones County: 24.467 %Jones County24.467Guthrie County: 19.474 %Guthrie County19.474Wright County: 18.436 %Wright County18.436Cherokee County: 14.432 %Cherokee County14.432Mills County: 14.312 %Mills County14.312Taylor County: 13.769 %Taylor County13.769Chickasaw County: 13.57 %Chickasaw County13.57Ringgold County: 13.218 %Ringgold County13.218Adair County: 12.646 %Adair County12.646Greene County: 12.386 %Greene County12.386Montgomery County: 12.197 %Montgomery County12.197Dickinson County: 11.725 %Dickinson County11.725Story County: 11.589 %Story County11.589Polk County: 11.326 %Polk County11.326Madison County: 11.279 %Madison County11.279Linn County: 11.163 %Linn County11.163Plymouth County: 11.098 %Plymouth County11.098Benton County: 11.082 %Benton County11.082Appanoose County: 11.016 %Appanoose County11.016Jasper County: 10.977 %Jasper County10.977Davis County: 10.736 %Davis County10.736Scott County: 10.684 %Scott County10.684Clarke County: 10.635 %Clarke County10.635Sac County: 10.476 %Sac County10.476Jackson County: 10.423 %Jackson County10.423Monroe County: 10.32 %Monroe County10.32Black Hawk County: 10.284 %Black Hawk County10.284Floyd County: 10.251 %Floyd County10.251Marion County: 10.15 %Marion County10.15Boone County: 10.081 %Boone County10.081Webster County: 9.97 %Webster County9.97Kossuth County: 9.943 %Kossuth County9.943Ida County: 9.908 %Ida County9.908Cedar County: 9.726 %Cedar County9.726Decatur County: 9.582 %Decatur County9.582Warren County: 9.539 %Warren County9.539Audubon County: 9.52 %Audubon County9.52Franklin County: 9.502 %Franklin County9.502Cerro Gordo County: 9.44 %Cerro Gordo County9.44Lucas County: 24.535 %Lucas County24.535Jones County: 24.467 %Jones County24.467Guthrie County: 19.474 %Guthrie County19.474Wright County: 18.436 %Wright County18.436Cherokee County: 14.432 %Cherokee County14.432Mills County: 14.312 %Mills County14.312Taylor County: 13.769 %Taylor County13.769Chickasaw County: 13.57 %Chickasaw County13.57Ringgold County: 13.218 %Ringgold County13.218Adair County: 12.646 %Adair County12.646Greene County: 12.386 %Greene County12.386Montgomery County: 12.197 %Montgomery County12.197Dickinson County: 11.725 %Dickinson County11.725Story County: 11.589 %Story County11.589Polk County: 11.326 %Polk County11.326Madison County: 11.279 %Madison County11.279Linn County: 11.163 %Linn County11.163Plymouth County: 11.098 %Plymouth County11.098Benton County: 11.082 %Benton County11.082Appanoose County: 11.016 %Appanoose County11.016Jasper County: 10.977 %Jasper County10.977Davis County: 10.736 %Davis County10.736Scott County: 10.684 %Scott County10.684Clarke County: 10.635 %Clarke County10.635Sac County: 10.476 %Sac County10.476Jackson County: 10.423 %Jackson County10.423Monroe County: 10.32 %Monroe County10.32Black Hawk County: 10.284 %Black Hawk County10.284Floyd County: 10.251 %Floyd County10.251Marion County: 10.15 %Marion County10.15Boone County: 10.081 %Boone County10.081Webster County: 9.97 %Webster County9.97Kossuth County: 9.943 %Kossuth County9.943Ida County: 9.908 %Ida County9.908Cedar County: 9.726 %Cedar County9.726Decatur County: 9.582 %Decatur County9.582Warren County: 9.539 %Warren County9.539Audubon County: 9.52 %Audubon County9.52Franklin County: 9.502 %Franklin County9.502Cerro Gordo County: 9.44 %Cerro Gordo County9.44
%. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCounties2019 (%)Change on 2018
1Lucas County24.535+20.39 pts
2Jones County24.467+15.22 pts
3Guthrie County19.474+7.02 pts
4Wright County18.436+9.77 pts
5Cherokee County14.432+6.03 pts
6Mills County14.312+2.95 pts
7Taylor County13.769+3.54 pts
8Chickasaw County13.57+0.97 pts
9Ringgold County13.218+1.12 pts
10Adair County12.646-1.58 pts
11Greene County12.386+5 pts
12Montgomery County12.197+4.08 pts
13Dickinson County11.725-1.62 pts
14Story County11.589+0.71 pts
15Polk County11.326-0.8 pts
16Madison County11.279-2.82 pts
17Linn County11.163+2.37 pts
18Plymouth County11.098+3.69 pts
19Benton County11.082-1.84 pts
20Appanoose County11.016+4.38 pts
21Jasper County10.977+0.71 pts
22Davis County10.736-4.02 pts
23Scott County10.684-0.1 pts
24Clarke County10.635+3.73 pts
25Sac County10.476+2.29 pts
26Jackson County10.423+1.21 pts
27Monroe County10.32+1.79 pts
28Black Hawk County10.284+0.03 pts
29Floyd County10.251+0.99 pts
30Marion County10.15+2.94 pts
31Boone County10.081+1.24 pts
32Webster County9.97-1.67 pts
33Kossuth County9.943+2.08 pts
34Ida County9.908+2.96 pts
35Cedar County9.726-1.45 pts
36Decatur County9.582+0.64 pts
37Warren County9.539-1.19 pts
38Audubon County9.52-2.66 pts
39Franklin County9.502-3.5 pts
40Cerro Gordo County9.44-2.09 pts
41Woodbury County9.426-4.96 pts
42Grundy County9.408-3.74 pts
43Fayette County9.363-3.28 pts
44Mahaska County9.194-0.27 pts
45Dallas County9.138-0.87 pts
46Carroll County9.097-6.02 pts
47Marshall County8.973-0.92 pts
48Buchanan County8.946-2.08 pts
49Washington County8.832-0.82 pts
50Hardin County8.812-2.07 pts
51Cass County8.773+0.83 pts
52Des Moines County8.701+0.63 pts
53O'Brien County8.678-1.42 pts
54Palo Alto County8.67-1.43 pts
55Jefferson County8.642-3.99 pts
56Howard County8.639-2.73 pts
57Wapello County8.61-0.14 pts
58Hancock County8.565-0.9 pts
59Crawford County8.446+0.47 pts
60Calhoun County8.302-7.84 pts
61Osceola County8.29-0.5 pts
62Johnson County8.258-7.72 pts
63Pottawattamie County8.257-1.39 pts
64Iowa County8.249+0.09 pts
65Dubuque County8.212-1.69 pts
66Pocahontas County8.192-1.97 pts
67Sioux County8.188-0.26 pts
68Wayne County8.183-1.7 pts
69Lyon County8.003-6.73 pts
70Clay County7.981-2.56 pts
71Butler County7.861-8.03 pts
72Buena Vista County7.828-0.49 pts
73Mitchell County7.793-2.58 pts
74Muscatine County7.79-0.11 pts
75Lee County7.73-1.34 pts
76Clinton County7.699+0.2 pts
77Humboldt County7.686-1.96 pts
78Henry County7.622-1.04 pts
79Union County7.483-1.04 pts
80Fremont County7.388+1.2 pts
81Adams County7.379+1.62 pts
82Clayton County7.256-7.95 pts
83Harrison County7.002-6.64 pts
84Keokuk County6.838-5.76 pts
85Bremer County6.755-0.77 pts
86Hamilton County6.733-2.26 pts
87Poweshiek County6.706-0.68 pts
88Monona County6.504-2.21 pts
89Winnebago County6.496-0.14 pts
90Emmet County6.424-0.62 pts
91Shelby County6.303+0.31 pts
92Page County6.292+0.56 pts
93Delaware County6.165-3.9 pts
94Allamakee County6.126-5.65 pts
95Winneshiek County6.053-0.46 pts
96Worth County6.048-5.28 pts
97Van Buren County5.539-2.45 pts
98Louisa County5.468-2.79 pts
99Tama County5.456-0.67 pts

Other periods

About this ranking

Jobs added at opening and expanding establishments during the year, as a percentage of average employment in the two years. United States: Census Bureau Business Dynamics Statistics.

A gross flow: jobs lost elsewhere are not subtracted, so the net change is this rate minus job_destruction_rate. Not the same as payroll job growth from the monthly employment surveys. The year is the twelve months to March: 2023 compares March 2022 with March 2023.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the counties are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Census Bureau. (2025). Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010 (Counties in Iowa by job creation rate, 2019) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv

MLA 9

Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010, Counties in Iowa by job creation rate, 2019. U.S. Census Bureau, 25 Sept. 2025, https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/job-creation-rate/iowa-counties?period=2019. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2025. Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. Counties in Iowa by job creation rate, 2019. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/job-creation-rate/iowa-counties?period=2019.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2025) Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010, Counties in Iowa by job creation rate, 2019 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/job-creation-rate/iowa-counties?period=2019 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{census_counties_in_iowa_by_2019,
  author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
  title = {{Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010: Counties in Iowa by job creation rate, 2019}},
  year = {2025},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/job-creation-rate/iowa-counties?period=2019. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023\_st\_cty.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Census Bureau
TI  - Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010: Counties in Iowa by job creation rate, 2019
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/09/25
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/job-creation-rate/iowa-counties?period=2019
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/job-creation-rate/iowa-counties?period=2019.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank Counties in Iowa by job creation rate using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"job_creation_rate","level":"province","within":"Iowa","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=job_creation_rate&level=province&within=Iowa&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

Which county has the highest job creation rate?

Lucas County, with 24.535% in 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which county has the lowest job creation rate?

Tama County, with 5.456% in 2019.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Job creation rate: other rankings

Counties in Iowa: more rankings