Located in the upper Midwestern region of the United States, Iowa is a doubly landlocked state. It is bordered to the east by the Mississippi River, to the west by the Missouri River and Big Sioux River, to the northeast by Wisconsin, to the east and southeast by Illinois, to the south by Missouri, to the west by Nebraska, to the northwest by South Dakota, and to the north by Minnesota.

With 3,190,369 people living there as of the 2020 census,[9] Iowa is the 31st most populous state in the United States and the 26th largest in terms of total area. Des Moines is the capital, most populous city, and biggest fully contained metropolitan region in the state. A part of the broader metropolitan region of Omaha, Nebraska, touches three counties in southwest Iowa.