60 free Iowa trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 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 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital and largest city of Iowa?
Des Moines
Its name comes from the French Rivière des Moines, probably 'River of the Monks'.
Q 02Which two rivers form almost all of Iowa's eastern and western borders?
The Mississippi and the Missouri
It is the only state whose east and west borders are almost entirely rivers; the Big Sioux completes the western edge.
Q 03Iowa takes its name ultimately from which Indigenous people?
The Ioway
The Ioway are a Chiwere-speaking Siouan nation once part of the Ho-Chunk Confederation.
Q 04Iowa's nickname, the Hawkeye State, comes from a character in which author's work?
James Fenimore Cooper
Hawkeye is the hero of The Last of the Mohicans; the name was officially adopted by the territorial governor in 1838.
Q 05Iowa became the 29th state in December of which year?
1846
President James K. Polk signed the admission bill on 28 December.
Q 06Which two French explorers first documented Iowa, travelling down the Mississippi in 1673?
Marquette and Jolliet
The land stayed French, then Spanish, until the Louisiana Purchase; the state flag copies the French tricolour.
Q 07Iowa's state flag is patterned after the flag of which country?
France
Iowa spent the 18th century as part of French, then Spanish, Louisiana.
Q 08Iowa is the nation's largest producer of which two commodities?
Corn and ethanol
In 2008 its 92,600 farms grew 19% of US corn and raised 30% of its hogs.
Q 09By roughly what ratio do hogs outnumber people in the state?
Over 7 to 1
Some 22.6 million hogs live in facilities large enough to need manure management plans.
Q 10About what fraction of Iowa's corn crop goes into ethanol?
A third
Renewable fuels make up about eight percent of the state's GDP.
Q 11Iowa held the first Democratic presidential caucus in the nation in which year?
1972
The state's slow, multi-tier caucus process forced it to start early; the Republicans followed in 1976.
Q 12How do Iowa caucuses differ from a primary?
Party-run meetings of voters
Candidates who do poorly frequently drop out within days.
Q 13Which state's primary moved ahead of Iowa on the 2024 Democratic calendar?
South Carolina
The 2020 Democratic result was delayed by reporting errors and the state party chair resigned.
Q 21Which Hollywood legend was born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, Iowa?
John Wayne
His birthplace museum is in Winterset, in the same county as the covered bridges.
Q 22Grant Wood's American Gothic was inspired by a house in which Iowa town?
Eldon
He was driven around town by a young local painter and spotted the Carpenter Gothic 'Dibble House'.
Q 23Who modelled for the two figures in American Gothic?
Wood's sister and his dentist
Nan Wood Graham wore the colonial-print apron; dentist Byron McKeeby held the pitchfork.
Q 14The Iowa State Fair's famous Butter Cow has been a fixture since which year?
1911
J.K. Daniels sculpted the first; Norma 'Duffy' Lyon carved them for 45 years from 1960, plus butter Elvis and butter John Wayne.
Q 15Where was the very first Iowa State Fair held, in 1854?
Fairfield
It cost about $323 to stage and moved permanently to Des Moines in 1879.
Q 16Which act drew the Iowa State Fair's biggest-ever grandstand crowd, 26,200 people in 1972?
Sonny and Cher
Johnny Cash drew 23,500 over two shows in 1970 and the Beach Boys 25,402 in 1975.
Q 17In Field of Dreams, Ray Kinsella builds a baseball diamond in his cornfield in which Iowa town?
Dyersville
The film was based on W. P. Kinsella's novel Shoeless Joe and was nominated for Best Picture.
Q 18What does the voice in the cornfield whisper to Ray in Field of Dreams?
'If you build it, he will come'
He sees a vision of Shoeless Joe Jackson standing in the middle of the imagined diamond.
Q 19The Bridges of Madison County, with Streep and Eastwood, is set among which Iowa landmarks?
Covered crossings
Robert Kincaid is photographing them for National Geographic; Roseman Bridge features prominently.
Q 20Which US president was born in West Branch, Iowa, in 1874?
Herbert Hoover
He was raised a Quaker, sent to Oregon at 11, and was among Stanford's first graduates.
Q 24The Amana Colonies were founded by religious refugees from which country?
Germany
The villages ran an almost self-sufficient communal economy for eighty years.
Q 25How many villages make up the Amana Colonies?
Seven
They sit on 26,000 acres in Iowa County and include Main, East, High, Middle, South and West Amana plus Homestead.
Q 26What does RAGBRAI stand for?
Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa
First held in 1973, it is the largest bike-touring event in the world and runs west to east.
Q 27In which direction does RAGBRAI cross Iowa each year?
West to east
Riders traditionally dip a rear wheel in the western river and a front wheel in the Mississippi.
Q 28Which conference do the Hawkeyes play football in?
Big Ten
Iowa State's Cyclones play in the Big 12; the two schools have won more than 30 NCAA wrestling titles between them.
Q 29Which sport have the Hawkeyes and Cyclones combined to win more than 30 NCAA team titles in?
Wrestling
Northern Iowa and tiny Cornell College have a title apiece as well.
Q 30Caitlin Clark, the Iowa Hawkeyes star drafted first overall in 2024, grew up in which city?
West Des Moines
She once scored 60 points in a high school game for Dowling Catholic.