Iowa
Iowa State Information
www.iowa.gov
Area (sq mi):: 56271.55 (land 55869.36; water 402.20) Population per square mile: 53.10
Population 2005: 2,966,334 State rank: 0 Population change: 2000-20005 1.40%; 1990-2000 5.40% Population 2000: 2,926,324 (White 92.60%; Black or African American 2.10%; Hispanic or Latino 2.80%; Asian 1.30%; Other 2.70%). Foreign born: 3.10%. Median age: 36.60
Income 2000: per capita $19,674; median household $39,469; Population below poverty level: 9.10% Personal per capita income (2000-2003): $26,554-$28,340
Unemployment (2004): 4.70% Unemployment change (from 2000): 1.90% Median travel time to work: 18.50 minutes Working outside county of residence: 21.80%
List of Iowa counties:
Iowa Parks
- US National Parks
- State Parks
- Parks and Conservation-Related Organizations - US
- National Wildlife Refuges
- National Scenic Byways
- National Heritage Areas
Iowa
Twenty-ninth state; admitted on December 28, 1846
State capital: Des Moines
Nicknames: The Hawkeye State; The Corn State
State motto: Our Liberties We Prize, and Our Rights We Will Maintain
State bird: Eastern goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)
State flower: Wild rose (Rosa pratincola)
State song: “The Song of Iowa”
State stone: Geode
State tree: Oak (Quercus)
More about state symbols at:
www.legis.state.ia.us/Pubinfo/StateSymbols/ www.iowa.gov/state/main/facts.html
More about the state at:
www.iowahistory.org/index.html
SOURCES:
AmerBkDays-2000, p. 859 AnnivHol-2000, p. 214
STATE OFFICES:
State web site: www.iowa.gov
Office of the Governor State Capitol Bldg Des Moines, IA 50319 515-281-5211 fax: 515-281-6611 www.governor.state.ia.us
Secretary of State 321 E 12th St 1st Fl Des Moines, IA 50319 515-281-5204 fax: 515-242-5953 www.sos.state.ia.us
Iowa State Library 112 E Grand Ave Des Moines, IA 50319 515-281-4105 fax: 515-281-6191 www.statelibraryofiowa.org
Legal Holidays:
| Day after Thanksgiving | Nov 25, 2011; Nov 23, 2012; Nov 29, 2013; Nov 28, 2014; Nov 27, 2015; Nov 25, 2016; Nov 24, 2017; Nov 23, 2018; Nov 29, 2019; Nov 27, 2020; Nov 26, 2021; Nov 25, 2022; Nov 24, 2023 |
Iowa
a state in the midwestern USA between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Area, 145,800 km. Population, 2,750,000 in 1969, of which 53 percent is urban. Capital, Des Moines.
Iowa is one of the states in the so-called corn belt. It is second, after California, in the USA in the value of its farm production. Iowa is flat (mean altitude, 400–500 meters). The soil is fertile, chernozem or chernozem-like. The climate is warm, temperately continental. Precipitation, 700–1,000 millimeters a year.
Approximately 70 percent of the state’s territory is arable land, 11–12 percent, meadows and pastures, and approximately seven percent, forests. More than 90 percent of the harvest area is for fodder crops—that is, corn (approximately 50 percent), oats (25 percent), grasses (15–16 percent); the soy bean crops are usually the first or second largest in the USA. The major goal of animal husbandry is meat: 7.2 million head of horned cattle and 12.5 million hogs were fattened on farms in 1966. Poultry raising, with the production of eggs and meat chickens, is also important. Stock-raising provides approximately 80 percent of agricultural commodity output.
Small farms are being ruined: there were 215,000 farms in 1930 and 155,000 farms in 1964. Powerful capitalistic enterprises, which make up approximately one-third of all farms, provide two-thirds of Iowa’s agricultural commodity output. In 1969, 220,000 people—that is, 25 percent of the people not in agriculture—worked in manufacturing. The most developed industries are meat, dairy, and flour; agricultural machinery is built in Iowa. There are defense industries in cities along the Mississippi River—for instance, Dubuque and Davenport.
V. P. KOVALEVSKII