City rankings

Fastest-growing cities for new businesses in Iowa

Johnston grew fastest: 2,701 new businesses, up 216% from the 12 months before. Des Moines had the most new businesses of any Iowa city in the 12 months through September 2026: 4,107, 11% of the state total.

Fastest-growing Iowa cities

#	City	New businesses	Year before	Change
1	Johnston	2,701	855	+216%
2	Tiffin	114	65	+75%
3	Winterset	141	84	+68%
4	Pleasant Hill	167	106	+58%
5	Des Moines	4,107	2,671	+54%
6	Oskaloosa	115	75	+53%
7	Muscatine	232	161	+44%
8	Waukee	652	453	+44%
9	Marion	424	295	+44%
10	Mount Pleasant	103	72	+43%
11	Norwalk	249	175	+42%
12	Eldridge	103	73	+41%
13	Adel	159	113	+41%
14	Boone	165	118	+40%
15	Polk City	121	89	+36%
16	Burlington	265	196	+35%
17	Dubuque	628	478	+31%
18	Davenport	1,051	801	+31%
19	Decorah	117	90	+30%
20	Carroll	137	106	+29%
21	Altoona	268	208	+29%
22	Glenwood	114	90	+27%
23	North Liberty	292	232	+26%
24	Grimes	244	194	+26%
25	Marshalltown	203	163	+25%

New businesses formed in the 12 months through September 2026 against the 12 months before. Cities with at least 100 this year and 50 the year before.

Iowa cities with the most new businesses

#	City	New businesses	Share of state	Change
1	Des Moines	4,107	11%	+54%
2	Johnston	2,701	7%	+216%
3	Cedar Rapids	1,804	5%	+24%
4	West Des Moines	1,280	3%	+13%
5	Ankeny	1,059	3%	+17%
6	Davenport	1,051	3%	+31%
7	Iowa City	771	2%	+18%
8	Council Bluffs	761	2%	+23%
9	Urbandale	672	2%	+17%
10	Waterloo	663	2%	-44%
11	Waukee	652	2%	+44%
12	Sioux City	643	2%	+14%
13	Dubuque	628	2%	+31%
14	Ames	576	2%	+10%
15	Bettendorf	460	1%	+22%
16	Marion	424	1%	+44%
17	Cedar Falls	420	1%	+16%
18	Clive	329	1%	+5%
19	Coralville	319	1%	+13%
20	North Liberty	292	1%	+26%
21	Altoona	268	1%	+29%
22	Burlington	265	1%	+35%
23	Fort Dodge	253	1%	+19%
24	Norwalk	249	1%	+42%
25	Grimes	244	1%	+26%

New businesses formed in the 12 months through September 2026.

Want the businesses, not just the count?

The new Iowa businesses behind these rankings are available as a file: name, address, entity type, formation month and, where the state publishes it, the registered agent.

New Business Monthly

$199 a month

One file every month with the businesses newly registered across 12 states since the file before (more than 170,000 in the latest one). Cancel any time.

Get new businesses every month

New Business File

$1,499 one time

Every business formed in the last 12 months across 15 states: more than 2.2 million records, one CSV per state, with 2 monthly updates included.

Get the last 12 months

The formation date in the files is the year and month. Most records have no email address or EIN.

Get a list of new Iowa businesses by city

See the exact count and price as you filter by county, city, ZIP, entity type and formation date. Download a CSV right away and get monthly refreshes. Verified businesses can pay 20% today and the rest over 6 months with Pay-in-6™, building business credit as they pay.

Build this list

Common questions

Which Iowa city has the most new businesses?

Des Moines had the most new businesses of any Iowa city in the 12 months through September 2026: 4,107, 11% of the state total.

Which Iowa city is growing fastest for new businesses?

Johnston grew fastest: 2,701 new businesses, up 216% from the 12 months before. The ranking covers cities with at least 100 new businesses in the 12 months through September 2026 and 50 in the 12 months before.

Where do these numbers come from?

From Iowa's official business registry. ListRiver counts businesses by the formation date the state reports and the city of the business address on file.

Monthly Iowa new-business reports · All states ranked · Iowa businesses by county and city

Methodology

Counts are businesses registered with the state of Iowa whose formation (registration) date falls in the period shown and that appear on the state register in ListRiver's data. City is the business address on file, with spellings as the state records them. Businesses already dissolved are not counted, so the earlier 12 months are slightly understated and increases slightly overstated; the effect is similar across a state's cities, so the order is a fair comparison. More in the methodology.

Cite this page: ListRiver, “Fastest-growing cities for new businesses in Iowa”, https://listriver.com/reports/new-businesses/iowa/cities. Journalists and researchers are welcome to use these figures with a link.