Iowa - Economy

Economy

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. 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 state's unemployment rate is 6.6%.