Iowa contractor & trade licensing data
An analysis of 20,726 currently active professional and contractor licenses on record in Iowa, drawn from official state licensing boards. Figures reflect licenses with a current, active status as of 2026-08-25.
Licensed professionals by trade
Every active Iowa license on record, grouped by trade. Click any trade to browse the verified professionals behind the number.
Where Iowa's licensed pros are
The 20 cities with the most active licensed professionals in Iowa.
| # | City | Active licenses | Share of state |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Moines | 601 | 2.9% |
| 2 | Des Moines | 583 | 2.8% |
| 3 | Cedar Rapids | 469 | 2.3% |
| 4 | Omaha | 284 | 1.4% |
| 5 | Cedar Rapids | 250 | 1.2% |
| 6 | Sioux City | 243 | 1.2% |
| 7 | Omaha | 239 | 1.2% |
| 8 | Davenport | 229 | 1.1% |
| 9 | Dubuque | 217 | 1.0% |
| 10 | Ankeny | 198 | 1.0% |
| 11 | Waterloo | 188 | 0.9% |
| 12 | Urbandale | 185 | 0.9% |
| 13 | Council Bluffs | 184 | 0.9% |
| 14 | West Des Moines | 178 | 0.9% |
| 15 | Iowa City | 172 | 0.8% |
| 16 | Dubuque | 161 | 0.8% |
| 17 | Ames | 148 | 0.7% |
| 18 | Iowa City | 137 | 0.7% |
| 19 | Marion | 136 | 0.7% |
| 20 | Ankeny | 131 | 0.6% |
Methodology & limitations
Source. Public-record license extracts published by Iowa state licensing boards and agencies, aggregated by Verify a Pro. Only licenses with a current, active status and a Iowa address are counted.
What the counts mean. Each figure is a count of currently active licenses, not of licenses ever issued. Professionals who retired, moved, or let a license lapse are not included. City figures use the licensee's address of record, which is not necessarily their full service area.
Reproducing this. The pipeline is deterministic — the same public extracts yield the same totals. We publish trade and city breakdowns so any figure here can be checked against the state's own record.
Verify a Pro is an independent public-records directory, a service of Scion Media. It is not affiliated with Iowa or any government agency.