Iowa counties quiz

The 99 counties in the quiz

They’re the 99 counties of Iowa, as counted by the US Census Bureau. The state capital, Des Moines, is in Polk County.

How to play

In Point mode we name a county and you tap it on the map; in Type mode one lights up and you type its name (accents don’t matter); and in Time trial you get 6 seconds per question. If you miss, we show you where it was, which way it lies and a hint drawn from the data: its size rank and its neighbors.

Each game has 10, 20 or all the questions, and at the end you can practice just the ones you missed. Your best score for each mode is saved in this browser only: neither we nor anyone else can see it, and there’s no sign-up.

The hardest ones

The smallest counties are the hardest, since they barely show on the map: Dickinson (381 sq mi), Emmet (396 sq mi), and Osceola (399 sq mi). Zoom in with the buttons or two fingers to tap them.

Tips to learn them

• The 11 counties bordering Minnesota trace that border on the map: Allamakee, Dickinson, Emmet, Howard, Kossuth, Lyon, Mitchell, Osceola, Winnebago, Winneshiek, and Worth.
• Webster has the most neighbors: it borders 7 counties. Once you place it, you have a landmark for many more.
• Polk is the most populous (516,546 people in 2025) and, together with Linn and Scott, is home to 29% of Iowa’s people.

Playing in class

If you teach in Iowa, start with your school’s county and its neighbors and add a few each day. Otherwise, it’s a good way to get to know the state before studying it.

With the Challenge your class link, everyone gets the same questions in the same order, with no accounts or passwords, and each student sees their own score, time and streak. To practice on paper, there’s a printable worksheet of the same map with an answer key.

List of all 99 counties

1. Adair pop. 7,403
2. Adams pop. 3,617
3. Allamakee pop. 14,238
4. Appanoose pop. 12,077
5. Audubon pop. 5,509
6. Benton pop. 26,004
7. Black Hawk pop. 131,532
8. Boone pop. 26,799
9. Bremer pop. 25,296
10. Buchanan pop. 20,883
11. Buena Vista pop. 20,449
12. Butler pop. 14,049
13. Calhoun pop. 9,562
14. Carroll pop. 20,303
15. Cass pop. 12,960
16. Cedar pop. 18,359
17. Cerro Gordo pop. 42,372
18. Cherokee pop. 11,369
19. Chickasaw pop. 11,663
20. Clarke pop. 9,574
21. Clay pop. 16,202
22. Clayton pop. 16,845
23. Clinton pop. 46,002
24. Crawford pop. 16,237
25. Dallas pop. 118,457
26. Davis pop. 9,230
27. Decatur pop. 7,655
28. Delaware pop. 17,674
29. Des Moines pop. 38,077
30. Dickinson pop. 18,077
31. Dubuque pop. 99,381
32. Emmet pop. 9,107
33. Fayette pop. 19,047
34. Floyd pop. 14,901
35. Franklin pop. 9,868
36. Fremont pop. 6,522
37. Greene pop. 8,658
38. Grundy pop. 12,361
39. Guthrie pop. 10,782
40. Hamilton pop. 14,944
41. Hancock pop. 10,528
42. Hardin pop. 16,455
43. Harrison pop. 14,623
44. Henry pop. 19,349
45. Howard pop. 9,415
46. Humboldt pop. 9,409
47. Ida pop. 6,777
48. Iowa pop. 16,504
49. Jackson pop. 19,288
50. Jasper pop. 38,153
51. Jefferson pop. 15,291
52. Johnson pop. 160,044
53. Jones pop. 21,253
54. Keokuk pop. 9,797
55. Kossuth pop. 14,322
56. Lee pop. 32,306
57. Linn pop. 232,028
58. Louisa pop. 10,416
59. Lucas pop. 8,847
60. Lyon pop. 12,354
61. Madison pop. 17,270
62. Mahaska pop. 21,880
63. Marion pop. 34,192
64. Marshall pop. 39,890
65. Mills pop. 14,793
66. Mitchell pop. 10,650
67. Monona pop. 8,539
68. Monroe pop. 7,406
69. Montgomery pop. 10,002
70. Muscatine pop. 41,853
71. O'Brien pop. 14,220
72. Osceola pop. 5,980
73. Page pop. 14,856
74. Palo Alto pop. 8,899
75. Plymouth pop. 25,697
76. Pocahontas pop. 6,819
77. Polk pop. 516,546
78. Pottawattamie pop. 92,996
79. Poweshiek pop. 18,368
80. Ringgold pop. 4,642
81. Sac pop. 9,525
82. Scott pop. 175,259
83. Shelby pop. 11,689
84. Sioux pop. 36,774
85. Story pop. 101,291
86. Tama pop. 16,796
87. Taylor pop. 5,835
88. Union pop. 11,829
89. Van Buren pop. 7,131
90. Wapello pop. 35,210
91. Warren pop. 57,331
92. Washington pop. 22,667
93. Wayne pop. 6,738
94. Webster pop. 36,838
95. Winnebago pop. 10,251
96. Winneshiek pop. 19,733
97. Woodbury pop. 106,649
98. Worth pop. 7,338
99. Wright pop. 12,801