Why Iowa?

Iowa has long been recognized as a world insurance leader across the industry's life, health, property and casualty, and financial services sectors. Did you know that Des Moines, Iowa earned the nickname of “The Hartford of the West” due to its concentration of insurance companies? However, there are thousands of insurance and finance companies statewide.

The Global Insurance Symposium holds its annual conference every spring in Des Moines, Iowa, offering educational and networking opportunities. The conference has approximately 500 insurance and financial services company executives along with international regulators. To date, there has been representatives from 13 different countries. The Federation of Iowa Insurers is a proud sponsor and voting member of the event! Iowa will continue to showcase itself as an industry innovator year after year.

The Iowa Department of Economic Development Authority along with the Iowa Insurance Division partnered in 2022 to create Insure Your Future, an internship program targeted at sophomore-level college students to introduce them to Iowa’s insurance industry. Many Federation of Iowa Insurer members participate in the program, understanding the importance to introduce the next generation of our workforce to the insurance industry, boosting Iowa’s career prospects. Insure Your Future will assist in Iowa maintaining favorable growth, with the insurance industry expanding from 2.04% of total state employment in 2024.

The Federation of Iowa Insurers completed an internal Community Impact Study in 2024, and re-engaged Dr. Ernest Goss, Ph.D., to complete an updated Economic Impact Study in 2025 to estimate the impact of Iowa's insurance industry on the State economy, and to measure its importance to the Iowa economy. A few highlights from the studies are below, with a full report along with 1-page fact sheets linked under the "Learn More!" table.

Due to high productivity, Iowa insurance employees earned a 78.0% salary advantage over the average Iowa worker in 2024, opposed to 67.6% in 2020.

It’s estimated that Iowa insurance industry spending generated $7.5 billion in wages and salaries for 2024.

It's estimated that Iowa insurance industry spending generated a total economic impact of $36.3 billion for 2024.

In 2024, it’s estimated that Iowa’s insurance industry generated $1.5 billion in direct and spillover state and local tax collections in 2024, compared to $1.1 billion in 2022 and $821.1 million in 2020.

Federation of Iowa Insurer member companies continue to invest in Iowa communities, having over 3.3 million volunteer hours per year with 11,000+ employees volunteering.

Charitable giving remains strong. FII member companies recognize that local giving helps build vibrant towns and cities, contributing more than $490 million in corporate giving nationally and over $29 million in charitable giving in Iowa.

More than 47,000 Iowans were employed in the state's insurance industry in 2024. That same year, life and annuities insurance supported an estimated 58,714 direct and indirect jobs, while health and medical insurance accounted for 11,130 direct and indirect jobs.

Iowa’s insurance premium tax rate is at 1%, one of the lowest in the nation!

SF 549 was adopted and signed into law by Governor Reynolds on June 1, 2023. The bill requires Captive Insurance Companies in Iowa to pay a tax on the direct premiums collected or contracted for on policies or contracts written by the captive company. The tax rate is as follows: .97.5% in FY2024; .95% in FY2025; .925% in FY2026 and .9% in FY 2027.