Iowa Trivia
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7correct to beat the crowd
97 free Iowa trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
49 free Iowa trivia questions with answers. Iowa trivia questions for the Hawkeye State proud, the transplant trying to keep up, or a classroom studying the Midwest. The quiz covers Iowa's founding (Marquette and Jolliet, the Louisiana Purchase, statehood in 1846), why it is the Hawkeye State, and the geography of a state bordered almost entirely by rivers. It also takes in the things Iowa is known for: the first-in-the-nation caucuses, the State Fair and its Butter Cow, corn, hogs and ethanol, RAGBRAI, the Amana Colonies, Effigy Mounds, and famous Iowans and Iowa stories from Herbert Hoover, John Wayne and Grant Wood's American Gothic to Field of Dreams, The Music Man, the day the music died at Clear Lake, Kurt Warner and Caitlin Clark. Easy questions come first; the harder ones will stretch lifelong Iowans. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles on the state, its cities, events and people, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 97 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital and largest city of Iowa?
Des Moines
Des Moines, with about 214,000 residents at the 2020 census, has been Iowa's capital since 1857, when the seat of government moved from Iowa City.
Q 02Which two rivers form almost all of Iowa's eastern and western borders?
The Mississippi and the Missouri
The Mississippi forms Iowa's entire eastern border and the Missouri most of the western one, with the Big Sioux completing the northwest edge; Iowa is the only state bounded by rivers on both east and west.
Q 03Which Iowa city is home to Iowa State University and its Cyclones?
Ames
Ames, about 30 miles north of the capital, is home to Iowa State University, founded in 1858, whose Cyclones teams compete in the Big 12 Conference.
Q 04Iowa's nickname, the Hawkeye State, comes from a character in which author's work?
James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper's frontier scout Hawkeye, from the Leatherstocking Tales, gave Iowans their nickname after newspaperman James G. Edwards proposed it in 1838, the year Iowa Territory was created.
Q 05Iowa became the 29th state in December of which year?
1846
Iowa entered the Union as the 29th state on 28 December 1846, eight years after Iowa Territory was organized in 1838.
Q 06Iowa's state flag is patterned after the flag of which country?
France
France: Dixie Cornell Gebhard's design, adopted in 1921, uses the blue, white and red vertical bands of the French tricolour, recalling Iowa's years in French Louisiana, with an eagle and the state motto on the centre stripe.
Q 07Iowa is the nation's largest producer of which two commodities?
Corn and ethanol
Corn and ethanol: Iowa grows roughly a sixth of the US corn crop and, with more than 40 ethanol plants, refines about a quarter of the nation's ethanol.
Q 08By roughly what ratio do hogs outnumber people in the state?
Over 7 to 1
Over 7 to 1: Iowa keeps roughly 23 million hogs, about a third of the US herd, outnumbering Iowans more than sevenfold.
Q 09Which Iowa city was Maytag's home from 1893 and hosts the Iowa Speedway?
Newton
Newton, east of the capital on Interstate 80, was Maytag's headquarters from 1893 until Whirlpool closed the plant in 2007, and has hosted the Iowa Speedway oval since 2006.
Q 10Iowa held the first Democratic presidential caucus in the nation in which year?
1972
Iowa's Democrats caucused first in 1972 because new party rules required long gaps between the precinct, county, district and state stages, pushing precinct meetings to 24 January; Republicans followed in 1976.
Q 11How do Iowa caucuses differ from a primary?
Party-run meetings of voters
Caucuses are party-run meetings of voters held at set times in precincts, not state-run elections with all-day secret ballots; Iowa Democrats traditionally sorted into candidate groups in the room.
Q 12Which state's primary did the DNC put first on its 2024 calendar, displacing Iowa?
South Carolina
South Carolina, whose Black voters had revived Joe Biden's 2020 campaign, was given the first slot, 3 February 2024, by the Democratic National Committee after Iowa's 2020 caucus count collapsed amid app failures.
Q 13The Iowa State Fair's famous Butter Cow has been a fixture since which year?
1911
Q 21Who modelled for the two figures in American Gothic?
Wood's sister and his dentist
Wood's sister and his dentist: Nan Wood Graham, in a colonial-print apron, and Cedar Rapids dentist Byron McKeeby, holding the pitchfork, posed separately for the 1930 painting.
Q 22The Amana Colonies were founded by religious refugees from which country?
Germany
Germany: the Community of True Inspiration, Pietists from Hesse and the Rhineland, sailed for New York in 1843 and moved to Iowa in 1855, running a communal economy until the 'Great Change' of 1932.
Q 23How many villages make up the Amana Colonies?
Seven
Seven villages (Amana, East, High, Middle, South and West Amana plus Homestead) sit on 26,000 acres in Iowa County; Homestead was bought in 1861 for its railroad stop.
The first Butter Cow was sculpted in 1911 by J.K. Daniels; Norma 'Duffy' Lyon took over in 1960 and carved the cows for more than four decades, adding a butter Elvis and a butter Last Supper.
Q 14Where was the very first Iowa State Fair held, in 1854?
Fairfield
Fairfield, in southeast Iowa, hosted the first state fair in October 1854 at a cost of about $323; the fair rotated among towns until settling permanently in the capital in 1879.
Q 15In Field of Dreams, Ray Kinsella builds a baseball diamond in his cornfield in which Iowa town?
Dyersville
Dyersville, in northeast Iowa, is where the Field of Dreams diamond was built on the Lansing farm in 1988; the site became a tourist attraction and hosted a Major League game in 2021.
Q 16What does the cornfield voice first whisper to Ray in Field of Dreams?
'If you build it, he will come'
'If you build it, he will come' is the first whisper; the voice later says 'Ease his pain' and 'Go the distance', and Shoeless Joe Jackson appears on the finished diamond.
Q 17In The Bridges of Madison County, Robert Kincaid photographs the bridges for which magazine?
National Geographic
National Geographic sends photographer Robert Kincaid (Clint Eastwood) to shoot Madison County's covered bridges in 1965, where he meets farm wife Francesca Johnson (Meryl Streep).
Q 18Which US president was born in West Branch, Iowa, in 1874?
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover, the only president born in Iowa, was orphaned by nine, sent to an uncle in Oregon at 11, and graduated in Stanford's first class in 1895; his library and grave are in West Branch.
Q 19Which Hollywood legend was born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, Iowa?
John Wayne
John Wayne was born in a four-room house in Winterset on 26 May 1907; the family moved to California in 1914, and the birthplace is now a museum.
Q 20Grant Wood's American Gothic was inspired by a house in which Iowa town?
Eldon
Eldon, in Wapello County, has the small Carpenter Gothic 'Dibble House' that Wood sketched in 1930 after local painter John Sharp showed him around; it is now a state historic site.
Q 24What does RAGBRAI stand for?
Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa
Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa began in 1973 when Register columnists John Karras and Donald Kaul invited readers to join their ride; it has become the world's largest multi-day bicycle touring event.
Q 25In which direction does RAGBRAI cross Iowa each year?
West to east
West to east: riders dip a rear wheel in the western border river at the start and a front wheel in the Mississippi at the finish, a week and roughly 450 miles later.
Q 26Which conference do the Hawkeyes play football in?
Big Ten
The Iowa Hawkeyes have played in the Big Ten since joining the old Western Conference in 1899; Iowa State's Cyclones, by contrast, belong to the Big 12.
Q 27Which sport have the Hawkeyes and Cyclones combined to win more than 30 NCAA team titles in?
Wrestling
Wrestling: Iowa's Hawkeyes have won more than 20 NCAA team titles, including nine straight from 1978 to 1986 under Dan Gable, and Iowa State has eight more.
Q 28Caitlin Clark, the Iowa Hawkeyes star drafted first overall in 2024, grew up in which city?
West Des Moines
West Des Moines: Clark starred at Dowling Catholic High School there, once scoring 60 points in a game, before choosing the Hawkeyes over Notre Dame.
Q 29Which WNBA team took Caitlin Clark first overall in the 2024 draft?
Indiana Fever
The Indiana Fever picked Clark first on 15 April 2024; she went on to win Rookie of the Year and make the All-WNBA First Team in her debut season.
Q 30Which Iowa university is home to the famous Writers' Workshop?
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop, founded in 1936, was the first creative-writing degree program in the US and helped earn Iowa City its UNESCO City of Literature title in 2008.