Other Research
Iowa Tourism Research
The Iowa Tourism Office conducts and acquires research that helps tourism industry partners understand and convey the impact that travel has on their communities. The majority is available for free and is easy to find and use.Hotel/Motel Tax Distributions
This information is available by jurisdiction from the Iowa Department of Revenue. It details how much hotel/motel tax was collected and distributed to each jurisdiction quarterly (NOTE - in late 2024 the distributions changed to monthly).
Iowa Retail Sales Tax Data by 12 Business Groups by County
The Iowa Department of Revenue publishes quarterly sales and sales tax collections by various industries (including bars, restaurants and retailers) for all 99 counties.
Federal Reserve Economic Data
This online database compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis contains hundreds of thousands of economic data sets over time-series at the international, national, state and county levels. For example: GDP by county over several years; All employees: Leisure and Hospitality in Iowa over several years; Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Leisure and Hospitality in Iowa by month, quarter or year.
Bureau of Labor Statistics Quarterly Census of Employment & Wages
This database has detailed industry employment and wage data at the national, state and county level. Businesses can use this data to determine average wage rates and number of people employed by employment types (of critical mass) within their county or in Iowa. It varies by concentration of industry within each county. “Critical mass” means that for data to be published there must be enough businesses within the industry in a county to keep individual business information confidential. If your county does not have specific industry data published or does not have a “critical mass,” your businesses could use this research for Iowa, another county, or look at the “industry” as a subset of a larger industry. For example, select “beverage manufacturing” instead of “breweries or “wineries.” .
Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Outdoor Recreation Data and GDP by State
BEA is one of the top three federal economic data agencies. This dataset “isolates economic activity associated with outdoor recreation spending and production in a state’s economy.” It details the economic impact of outdoor recreation in the United States for Iowa or by activity. It is not available by county. The economic value data of biking, boating, hunting, motorcycling, fishing, hiking, camping, equestrian, RVing and snow activities is available by subset. There is also interactive data related to employment and jobs attributed to outdoor recreation, compensation of workers within various industries and other topics by year and by state. Iowa Data | All Data
Iowa Tourism Research Repository
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis