Sioux City boasts a revitalized downtown, attractions include the Sergeant Floyd Monument, Sergeant Floyd River Museum, and the Orpheum Theater. 

Council Bluffs, the major city of southwest Iowa, sits at the base of the Loess Hills National Scenic Byway. With three casino resorts, the city also includes such cultural attractions as the Western Hills Trails Center, Union Pacific Railroad Museum, the Grenville M. Dodge House, and the Lewis and Clark Monument.

Northwest Iowa is home to some of the largest concentrations of wind turbine farms in the world. Other western communities with vibrant historic downtown areas include Storm Lake, Spencer, Le Mars, Glenwood, Carroll, Atlantic, Red Oak, Denison, Creston, Mount Ayr, Sac City, and Walnut.  

The Driftless Area of northeast Iowa has many steep hills and deep valleys, checkered with forest and terraced fields. Effigy Mounds National Monument in Allamakee and Clayton Counties has the largest assemblage of animal-shaped prehistoric mounds in the world.

Waterloo is home of the Grout Museum and is headquarters of the Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area. Cedar Falls is home of the University of Northern Iowa.

Dubuque is a regional tourist destination with attractions such as the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium and the Port of Dubuque.

Dyersville is home to the famed Field of Dreams baseball diamond. Maquoketa Caves State Park, nearMaquoketa, contains more caves than any other state park.

Fort Atkinson State Preserve in Fort Atkinson has the remains of an original 1840s Dragoon fortification.

Other communities with vibrant historic downtown areas include Decorah, McGregor, Mason City, Elkader,Guttenberg, Algona, Spillville, Charles City, and Independence.

RAGBRAI – the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa – attracts thousands of bicyclists and support personnel. It has crossed the state on various routes each year since 1973. Iowa is home to more than 70 wineries, and hosts five regional wine tasting trails. Many Iowa communities hold farmers' markets during warmer months, these are typically weekly events, but larger cities can host multiple markets.

CNBC's list of "Top States for Business in 2010" has recognized Iowa as the sixth best state in the nation in the overall score. In the 10 individual categories, Iowa's best ranking was being 1st when it came to the "Cost of Doing Business", this includes all taxes, utility costs, and other costs associated with doing business. 10th in the "Economy" rankings, 12th in "Business Friendliness", 16th in "Education", 17th in both "Cost of Living" and "Quality of Life", 20th in "Workforce", 29th in "Technology and Innovation", 32nd in "Transportation" and the lowest ranking was 36th in "Access to Capital". 

While Iowa is often viewed as a farming state, in reality agriculture is a small portion of a diversified economy, with manufacturing, biotechnology, finance and insurance services, and government services contributing substantially to Iowa's economy. This economic diversity has helped Iowa weather the late 2000s recession better than most states, with unemployment substantially lower than the rest of the nation.

If the economy is measured by gross domestic product, in 2005 Iowa's GDP was about US $124 billion.[85] If measured by gross state product, for 2005 it was US $113.5 billion. Its per capita income for 2006 was US $23,340.

On July 2, 2009, Standard and Poor's rated the state of Iowa's credit as AAA (the highest of its credit ratings, held by only 11 U.S. state governments).

As of January 2010, the states unemployment rate is 6.6%.

Manufacturing is the largest sector of Iowa's economy, with $20.8 billion (21%) of Iowa's 2003 gross state product. Major manufacturing sectors include food processing, heavy machinery, and agricultural chemicals. Sixteen percent of Iowa's workforce is dedicated to manufacturing. Food processing is the largest component of manufacturing. Its industrial outputs include food processing, machinery, electric equipment, chemical products, publishing, and primary metals. Companies with direct or indirect processing facilities in Iowa include ConAgra Foods, Wells Blue Bunny, Barilla, Heinz, Wonder Bread/HostessSnack Cakes, Tone's Spices, General Mills, and Quaker Oats. Major non-food advanced manufacturing firms with production facilities in Iowa include 3M, ALCOA, Amana Corporation, Dexter Apache Holdings, Inc., Electrolux/Frigidaire, Emerson Process, Fisher Controls International, HON Industries, The HON Company, IPSCO Steel, John Deere, Lennox Manufacturing, Maytag Corporation, Pella Corporation, Rockwell Collins, Vermeer Company, and Winnebago Industries. 

Directly and indirectly, agriculture has always been a major component of Iowa's economy. However, the direct production and sale of raw agricultural products contributes only about 3.5% of Iowa's gross state product. The indirect role of agriculture in Iowa's economy can be measured in multiple ways, but its total impact, including agriculture-affiliated business, has been measured at 16.4% in terms of value added and 24.3% in terms of total output. This is lower than the economic impact in Iowa of non-farm manufacturing, which accounts for 22.4% of total value added and 26.5% of total output. Iowa's main agricultural outputs are hogs, corn, soybeans, oats, cattle, eggs, and dairy products. Iowa is the nation's largest producer of ethanol and corn and some years is the largest grower of soybeans as well. In 2008, the 92,600 farms in Iowa produced 19% of the nation's corn, 17% of the soybeans, 30% of the hogs, and 14% of the eggs. 

Major Iowa agricultural product processors include Archer Daniels Midland, Ajinomoto, Cargill, Inc., Diamond V Mills, Garst Seed Company, Heartland Pork Enterprises, Hy-Vee, Monsanto Company, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, and Quaker Oats. 

Iowa also has a strong financial and insurance sector, with approximately 6,100 firms, including AEGON,Nationwide Group, Aviva USA, Farm Bureau Financial Services, ING, Marsh Affinity Group, MetLife, Principal Financial Group, Principal Capital Management, Wellmark Blue Cross & Blue Shield (which, according to the American Medical Association, provided 71% of the state's health insurance in 2007), Wells Fargo, and Wells Fargo Financial Services. Biotechnology has expanded dramatically in Iowa in the past decade, with firms including Bio-Research Products Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim, Vetmedica, Diosynth, Inc., Fort Dodge Animal Health, Penford Products Co., Integrated DNA Technologies., Roche Applied Science, Wacker Biochem Corp., andWyeth.

Ethanol production consumes approximately one-third of Iowa's corn production, and renewable fuels account for 8% of the state's gross domestic product. A total of 39 ethanol plants produced 3.1 billion US gallons (12,000,000 m3) of fuel in 2009. In addition to ethanol, renewable energy has become a major economic force in western Iowa, with wind turbine electrical generation increasing exponentally since 1990. As of 2008, wind accounted for 15% of energy produced and 7.1% of the state's power needs; Iowa ranked second in wind generating capacity of U.S. states behind Texas. Major producers of turbines and components in Iowa include Acciona Energy of West Branch, TPI Composites of Newton, and Siemens Energy of Fort Madison.

Iowa is the headquarters for five of the top 1,000 companies for revenue. They include Principal Financial, Rockwell Collins, Casey's General Stores, HNI, and Terra Industries. Iowa is also headquarters to other companies including Hy-Vee, Pella Corporation, Vermeer Company, Kum & Go gas stations, Von Maur, Pioneer Hi-Bred, McLeodUSA, and Fareway grocery stores. 

Iowa imposes taxes on net state income of individuals, estates, and trusts. There are currently nine income tax brackets, ranging from 0.36% to 8.98%. The state sales tax rate is 6%, with non-prepared food having no tax. Iowa has one local option sales tax that may be imposed by counties after an election. Property tax is levied on the taxable value of real property. Iowa has more than 2,000 taxing authorities. Most property is taxed by more than one taxing authority. The tax rate differs in each locality and is a composite of county, city or rural township, school district and special levies. Iowa allows its residents to deduct their federal income taxes from their state income taxes. 

The 2011 American State Litter Scorecard ranked Iowa amongst the top four "Best" states, for overall effectiveness and quality of its statewide public space cleanliness, from state and related roadway (and adjacent property) litter/debris removal efforts—the only one in the Midwestern United States to attain that honor, that year. 

Iowa has four primary interstate highways. Interstate 29 runs along the western edge of the state through Council Bluffs and Sioux City. Interstate 35 goes from the southern border to the northern border through the center of the state, including Des Moines. Interstate 74 begins at Interstate 80 just north and east of Davenport. Interstate 80 goes from the west end of the state to the east end through Council Bluffs, Des Moines, Iowa City, and the Quad Cities. Interstate 380 is an auxiliary Interstate Highway, which runs from Interstate 80 near Iowa City through Cedar Rapids ending in Waterloo and is part of the Avenue of the Saints highway. 

Iowa is served by several major airports including the Des Moines International Airport, the Eastern Iowa Airport, in Cedar Rapids, Quad City International Airport, which is located in Moline, Illinois, andEppley Airfield, located in Omaha, Nebraska. Smaller airports in the state include the Davenport Municipal Airport (Iowa), Dubuque Regional Airport, Fort Dodge Regional Airport, Mason City Municipal Airport, Sioux Gateway Airport, Southeast Iowa Regional Airport, and Waterloo Regional Airport. 

Amtrak's California Zephyr serves the south of Iowa with stops at Burlington, Mount Pleasant, Ottumwa, Osceola, and Creston on its daily route between Chicago and Emeryville, California (across the bay from San Francisco). Fort Madison is served by Amtrak's Southwest Chief, running daily between Chicago and Los Angeles.  

See List of Governors of Iowa, Iowa General Assembly, and Iowa State Capitol

The current Governor is Terry E. Branstad (R)

Other statewide elected officials are:

• Kim Reynolds (R) – Lieutenant Governor

• Matt Schultz (R) – Secretary of State

• David Vaudt (R) – Auditor of State

• Michael Fitzgerald (D) – Treasurer of State

• Bill Northey (R) – Secretary of Agriculture

• Tom Miller (D) – Attorney General

The two U.S. Senators:

• Tom Harkin (D)

• Chuck Grassley (R)

The five U.S. Congressmen:

• Bruce Braley (D) – First District

• Dave Loebsack (D) – Second District

• Leonard Boswell (D) – Third District

• Tom Latham (R) – Fourth District

• Steve King (R) – Fifth District

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