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List of counties in Iowa

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Summary

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Field	Value
name	Counties of Iowa
map
territory	State of Iowa
current_number	99
population_range	3,606 (Adams) – 516,185 (Polk)
area_range	381 sqmi (Dickinson) – 973 sqmi (Kossuth)
government	County government
subdivision	Cities, towns, townships, unincorporated communities, census-designated places

There are 99 counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The first two counties, Des Moines County and Dubuque County, were created in 1834 when Iowa was still part of the Michigan Territory. In preparation for Michigan's statehood, part of Michigan Territory was formed into Wisconsin Territory in 1836. Two years later, the western portion was split off to become Iowa Territory. The south-eastern part of Iowa Territory became Iowa, the 29th state in the union, on December 28, 1846, by which point 44 counties had been created. Counties continued to be created by the state government until 1857, when the last county, Humboldt County, was created. One of the most significant days in Iowa county history was January 15, 1851, on which 49 counties were created.

Map of counties numbered as in the ''[[National Atlas of the United States]]''

The Iowa Constitution of 1857, which is still in effect today, states that counties must have an area of at least 432 sqmi, and no county may be reduced below that size by boundary changes. However, exceptions to this rule were granted, as ten counties have areas below this size. (The table below shows land area, but the Constitution deals with total area.) The smallest county (Dickinson) has a land area of 381 sqmi, while the largest (Kossuth) has an area 973 sq mi (2,520 km2). Polk County is the most densely populated county at , an increase in density from 2010 when it was . Polk County contains the state's capital and largest city, Des Moines. In addition, Iowa has one of the smallest percentages of counties whose boundaries are dictated by natural means, the vast majority of which are being formed by lines of survey instead, resulting in many "box counties".

County information

The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code, used by the United States government to uniquely identify counties, is provided with each entry. The FIPS code for each county links to census data for that county. The column labeled '#' is the official county number when listed alphabetically. This number is used for many governmental and organizational purposes, including state income tax preparation. From 1922 to 1978, it was also used on Iowa license plates until it was replaced by the full county name. Finally, the number in the column headed "Map #" is used by the National Atlas of the United States, shown on the left; for purposes of the National Atlas, counties are numbered in geographical order beginning in the NW corner of the map.

Former counties

The following counties no longer exist:

Bancroft (1851–1855), merged with Kossuth County
Cook (1836–1837), merged with Muscatine County
Crocker (1870–1871), merged with Kossuth County
Risley (1851–1853), formed Hamilton County
Yell (1851–1853), formed Webster County

Proposed counties

Larrabee (proposed 1913, failed 1914. Seceded from Kossuth County)

References

"The Creation of Wisconsin Territory". Wisconsin Historical Society.
"Chronology of Wisconsin History". Ney Family History.
"Statehood Dates". 50states.com.
"Iowa: Consolidated Chronology of State and County Boundaries".
"Iowa Commentary". Iowa Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
U.S. Census Bureau. "Polk County Quickfacts". State & County QuickFacts.
"Iowa County Names and Numbers". Iowa Department of Revenue.
"Iowa License Plate: County Codes".
"EPA County FIPS Code Listing". EPA.gov.
National Association of Counties. "NACo - Find a county".
Pratt, LeRoy G.. (1977). "The Counties and Courthouses of Iowa". Klipto Printing and Office Supply Company.
"Formation of Counties in Iowa".
"U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Iowa". [[United States Census Bureau]].
Bright, William. (2004). "Native American Placenames of the United States". University of Oklahoma Press.
"Henry County, Iowa".
Savage, Tom. (2007). "A Dictionary of Iowa Place-names". University of Iowa Press.
Doubek, James. (June 27, 2021). "Johnson County, Iowa, Renames Itself After A Different Johnson". National Public Radio.
"Louisa County, Iowa". Official website.
John Adams, Tama County Auditor. (2002). "Tama County, Iowa". Web Marketing Services, Inc. LLC.
Pratt, H. M.. (1913). "History of Fort Dodge and Webster County, Iowa".
"Iowa County Formation Table". Iowa Genweb Project.
"Bancroft County, Iowa".
"Cook County, Iowa".
"Crocker County, Iowa".
"Risley County, Iowa".
"Yell County, Iowa".
(2019-04-21). "What happened to Iowa's 100th county?". The Gazette.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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