The state of Iowa is home to a little over 3 million people and a vast majority of Iowans live in towns with less than 20,000 people. According to Iowa Demographics, Altoona has about 20,000 residents. Altoona is considered the 27th most populated city and after that, there are 993 cities/towns in Iowa with less than 20,000 people.

The smaller towns and communities are what makes Iowa so unique and special, in my opinion. Towns like Mount Vernon, Salem, Mount Pleasant, Pella, Amana, Decorah, Waverly, Spirit Lake, etc...all have their unique charm.

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While Iowa's smaller communities help make up the charm and beauty of the state, there are some areas where most people live and work. There are 99 counties in the state of Iowa but did you know it only takes 10 counties to make up over half of the state's population? According to Iowa Chill, these 10 counties cover half of Iowa's population.

Can you guess which counties these are before checking out the list? How many out of 10 did you guess correctly? *(These are in no particular order)*

10.

9.

8.

7.

6.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

The Answers

All of the Population results are according to the Census.

10 - Black Hawk County. Roughly 131,144 people live in this county.

9 - Dallas County. Roughly 103,796 people live in this county.

8 - Dubuque County. Roughly 98,718 people live in this county.

7 - Johnson County. Roughly 154,748 people live in this county.

6 - Linn County.  Roughly 228,939 people live in this county.

5 - Polk County. Roughly 496,844 people live in this county.

4 - Pottawattamie County. Roughly 93,304 people live in this county.

3 - Scott County. Roughly 174,170 people live in this county.

2 - Story County. Roughly 99,472 people live in this county.

1 - Woodbury County. Roughly 105,607 people live in this county.

How many were you able to guess correctly? Some of these counties most Iowans could guess without even looking at a map but were there any that surprised you? Let us know in the comments.