Iowa
What are the best companies in Iowa? See which 30 made Forbes 2024 ‘Best Employers’ list.
Principal Financial Group, Ankeny Community School District among top employers
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Each year, Forbes releases its “America’s Best Employers By State,” list which includes nearly 1,300 companies nationwide.
Thirty employers in Iowa were featured on this year’s list, with 14 companies headquartered in the state and seven based in the Des Moines metro area. The companies that made the list fall into a range of industries, including education, health care social services, and government.
To create the list, Forbes worked with data company Statista to survey more than 160,000 U.S. employees at companies with at least 500 workers. Survey participants were asked a series of questions including:
- How likely they were to recommend their company.
- To evaluate the companies they’ve worked for within the past two years.
- To evaluate organizations, they knew within their industry or through friends or family who worked there.
Responses were collected from all 50 states and Washington D.C. and weighted based on recent data to compile the list.
Here are the best employers in Iowa, according to Forbes:
Top-rated employers headquartered in the Des Moines Metro
2. Principal Financial Group
3. Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield
7. Ankeny Community School District
13. Broadlawns Medical Center
22. State of Iowa
23. Des Moines Public Schools
25. UnityPoint Health
More: Looking for a new job? These Iowa companies rank among the best for pay
Top-rated employers based in Iowa
8. UI Health Care (formerly University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics), Iowa City
12. Iowa State University, Ames
16. Pella Corporation, Pella
17. Mercy Medical Center, Cedar Rapids
18. University of Iowa, Iowa City
26. Cedar Rapids Community School District, Cedar Rapids
29. Transamerica, Cedar Rapids
What are all of the Iowa companies on Forbes’ ‘Best Employers’ list?
The list from Forbes also included companies headquartered in other states that have large presences in Iowa. Here’s the complete list of employers in Iowa ranked by Forbes along with their headquarters location:
- Kwik Trip/Kwik Star, La Crosse, Wisconsin
- Principal Financial Group, Des Moines
- Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Des Moines
- United Parcel Service, Atlanta
- Nationwide Mutual Insurance, Columbus, Ohio
- UnitedHealth Group, Minnetonka, Minnesota
- Ankeny Community School District, Ankeny
- UI Health Care, Iowa City
- Hormel Foods, Austin, Minnesota
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, D.C.
- Amazon, Seattle
- Iowa State University, Ames
- Broadlawns Medical Center, Des Moines
- John Deere, Moline, Illinois
- Target, Minneapolis
- Pella Corporation, Pella
- Mercy Medical Center, Cedar Rapids
- University of Iowa, Iowa City
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.
- Menards, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
- Marsh & McLennan, New York
- State of Iowa, Des Moines
- Des Moines Public Schools, Des Moines
- FedEx, Memphis, Tennessee
- UnityPoint Health, West Des Moines
- Cedar Rapids Community School District, Cedar Rapids
- Sammons Enterprises, Dallas
- United States Postal Services (USPS), Washington, D.C.
- Transamerica, Cedar Rapids
- PepsiCo, Purchase, New York
Jessica Rish is an entertainment, dining and business reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. She can be reached at JRish@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rishjessica_
Not long after Matt Campbell settled in as Iowa State’s football coach, the victories began to accumulate.
Campbell’s 2016 ISU team, his first one, won three games.
His next four teams won a total of 32, including the Cyclones’ 9-3 finish in 2020.
Prior to Campbell’s arrival at Iowa State, winning in Ames was difficult.
It was hard not to notice.
Campbell, who became Penn State’s coach after a 10-year run at Iowa State, said recently he almost left Ames twice before finally saying yes to Pat Kraft and the Nittany Lions.
Almost.
“I would say there were probably two really close opportunities that I probably kind of accepted,” Campbell said last Monday.
“And then I said, ‘You know what, I can’t do it’. I slept on it, and I walked away from it, during our 10 years (at Iowa State).”
“In fairness to those organizations, I’m not going to talk about it.”
1/27
New Penn State coach Matt Campbell is introduced
Campbell wasn’t sure then.
But he said it was different when Penn State approached him about becoming the permanent replacement for James Franklin.
Two major reasons why are Penn State president Neeli Bendapudi and Kraft, the Lions’ athletic director.
“From Neeli’s standpoint, she’s a wow, and the wow factor of character, integrity, what she was looking for,” Campbell said.
“After getting off that phone call, I was like, this is the type of people you want to associate with.”
“I would say from Pat’s standpoint, (he is) this uber-competitive, want to be a partner, want to be an asset to you in this changing world of college football,” Campbell continued.
“Like, you can’t do it by yourself anymore. You have to be aligned. … Those two things, they were unwavering for me, and they were things that said, you know what, this is really special.”
A huge factor for Campbell was his family – wife Erica, daughters Katie and Izzy and sons Rudy and Rocco.
“Now, the regionality of bringing my family back home,” said Campbell, who is from Massillon, Ohio.
“I mean, being 12 hours away and for my kids to never see their grandparents and never see their cousins, and to have my father and my mother and Erica’s family be able to come and be a part of this experience with us again.
“I can’t lie and tell you that didn’t have a big impact. I think it certainly did, as well.”
Campbell also knew he reached his ceiling at Iowa State, going 72-55 in 10 seasons. The highlight of his run was the Cyclones’ 11-3 finish in 2024.
“Knowing what we’ve done (at ISU), I mean, the last three years at Iowa State have been the greatest three-year run in the history of the school,” Campbell said.
“I don’t know what else we could have done there, and I’m really proud of what we did there.”
Iowa (KCRG) – The Iowa State Patrol said it responded to 206 calls for service after another weekend winter storm Saturday.
From 5:30 am to 5:30 pm, ISP said it covered 88 crashes, with 74 resulting in property damage.
Officials said one person died and 13 others were injured.
The patrol had 118 motorist assists.
Copyright 2025 KCRG. All rights reserved.
See Iowa DOT snowplow camera capture moment SUV rear ends plow
An Iowa DOT snowplow was hit while clearing snow along Iowa Highway 60 in Sioux County on Nov. 29, 2025. The crash was caught on the plow’s cameras.
A winter storm warning remains in effect until 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13, for a large swath of the state, from northwest Iowa to much of central Iowa and southeast Iowa.
Drivers should expect slippery conditions.
Snow fell through the morning with accumulations of 2 to 3 inches across most of Iowa, according to the National Weather Service. The light, fluffy snow will taper off in the afternoon.
The weather service advises that snow-covered roads will make travel slick and more difficult and to use caution.
The counties affected include Pocahontas, Sac, Calhoun, Webster, Hamilton, Crawford, Carroll, Greene, Boone, Story, Marshall, Guthrie, Dallas, Polk, Jasper, Poweshiek, Warren, Marion, Mahaska, Monroe, Wapello and Davis.
Where did snow fall the most in Iowa?
Southern Iowa felt the brunt of the snow Saturday morning, with some areas experiencing nearly five inches of accumulation. Here are the highest totals so far in Iowa:
- Milton: 4.5 inches
- Parnell: 4.5 inches
- Norwalk: 3.8 inches
- Badger: 3.5 inches
- Bloomfield: 3.3 inches
- Carroll: 3.2 inches
- Buffalo: 3.2 inches
- North English: 3 inches
- Winterset: 2.6 inches
How much snow has fallen in Des Moines?
The Des Moines International Airport reported 1.2 inches of snow as of 6 a.m. Saturday. Norwalk, just south of Des Moines, reported 3.8 inches of snow by 10:30 a.m. Clive reported 2.7 inches of snow at 10 a.m.
How much snow did Iowa City get?
North Liberty, just north of Iowa City, reported three inches of snow as of 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Tiffin, which is to the northwest of Iowa City, reported 2.7 inches of snow at 10 a.m.
Roads across the state are covered in snow
The Iowa DOT reported that, as of 11 a.m., many of central Iowa’s highways and interstates were completely covered with snow. The organization said travel on I-80 from central Iowa to the Illinois border is not advised.
“Visibility and road conditions are deteriorating rapidly, causing multiple crashes and closing lanes,” the DOT said in a social media post around 11 a.m.
More snow followed by frigid temps
A cold weather advisory is in effect for much of northern, central and southeastern Iowa into Sunday morning. In the Des Moines area, wind chill values could drop to as low as -15. Wind chills across the state are expected between -20 and -30 starting at 6 p.m. Saturday.
(This article has been updated to include new information.)
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