Compare Iowa sheriff department costs

Sheriff department cost and staffing across all 99 counties. Click a column header to sort. Hover a column header to see what it measures. Data as of 2026-07-24.

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County Population Budget $/resident Sworn / 100k res Custody / 100k res Beds / 100k res
Adair County 7,479 93.6 107.0
Adams County 3,680 190.2 0.0
Allamakee County 14,046 71.2 0.0
Appanoose County 12,279 65.2 48.9
Audubon County 5,651 123.9 70.8
Benton County 25,652 58.5 46.8
Black Hawk County 131,041 52.7 38.2
Boone County 26,700 63.7 44.9
Bremer County 25,012 52.0 56.0
Buchanan County 20,631 63.0 53.3
Buena Vista County 20,687 82.2 82.2
Butler County 14,376 187.8 0.0
Calhoun County 9,893 70.8 0.0
Carroll County 20,728 57.9 48.2
Cass County 13,116 68.6 53.4
Cedar County 18,479 64.9 102.8
Cerro Gordo County 42,979 41.9 72.1
Cherokee County 11,601 69.0 51.7
Chickasaw County 11,957 0.0 16.7
Clarke County 9,737 82.2 0.0
Clay County 16,423 79.2 67.0
Clayton County 17,123 75.9 0.0
Clinton County 46,488 45.2 49.5
Crawford County 16,450 66.9 42.6
Dallas County 100,367 15.9 26.9
Davis County 9,093 110.0 0.0
Decatur County 7,684 78.1 130.1
Delaware County 17,523 131.3 5.7
Des Moines County 38,824 69.5 92.7
Dickinson County 17,692 50.9 56.5
Dubuque County 98,812 3.0 50.6
Emmet County 9,349 107.0 42.8
Fayette County 19,519 66.6 76.8
Floyd County 15,601 76.9 44.9
Franklin County 10,015 119.8 0.0
Fremont County 6,639 150.6 150.6
Greene County 8,801 102.3 45.4
Grundy County 12,351 89.1 0.0
Guthrie County 10,619 94.2 9.4
Hamilton County 14,979 86.8 80.1
Hancock County 10,790
Hardin County 16,861 53.4 136.4
Harrison County 14,623 82.1 61.5
Henry County 20,436 53.8 63.6
Howard County 9,479 94.9 84.4
Humboldt County 9,606 104.1 62.5
Ida County 6,969 143.5 28.7
Iowa County 16,575 102.6 42.2
Jackson County 19,470 66.8 61.6
Jasper County 37,808 47.6 60.8
Jefferson County 15,785 209.1 0.0
Johnson County 153,360 22.8 26.7
Jones County 20,733 53.1 53.1
Keokuk County 10,026 49.9 10.0
Kossuth County 14,718 74.7 67.9
Lee County 33,442 56.8 59.8
Linn County 229,308 29.2 55.4
Louisa County 10,823 120.1 110.9
Lucas County 8,666 0.0 138.5
Lyon County 12,023 99.8 83.2
Madison County 16,609 48.2 0.0
Mahaska County 22,059 63.5 77.1
Marion County 33,487 53.8 44.8
Marshall County 40,049 57.4 77.4
Mills County 14,605 89.0 75.3
Mitchell County 10,537 66.4 0.0
Monona County 8,671 138.4 57.7
Monroe County 7,574 79.2 66.0
Montgomery County 10,285 97.2 77.8
Muscatine County 42,968 55.9 142.0
O'Brien County 14,138 49.5 92.0
Osceola County 6,149 146.4 0.0
Page County 15,225 98.5 46.0
Palo Alto County 8,938 89.5 78.3
Plymouth County 25,621 50.7 74.2
Pocahontas County 7,061 99.1 56.6
Polk County 493,378 18.8 70.9
Pottawattamie County 93,543 58.8 151.8
Poweshiek County 18,608 69.9 59.1
Ringgold County 4,690 106.6 0.0
Sac County 9,778 0.0 153.4
Scott County 174,315 26.4 70.6
Shelby County 11,737 93.7 59.6
Sioux County 35,815 61.4 64.2
Story County 98,573 31.4 33.5
Tama County 17,017 76.4 70.5
Taylor County 5,916 236.6 0.0
Union County 12,107 115.6 0.0
Van Buren County 7,207 69.4 111.0
Wapello County 35,292 36.8 70.8
Warren County 52,709 49.3 3.8
Washington County 22,534 84.3 71.0
Wayne County 6,484 323.9 0.0
Webster County 36,986 51.4 46.0
Winnebago County 10,704 65.4 84.1
Winneshiek County 20,050 49.9 54.9
Woodbury County 105,526 52.1 83.4
Worth County 7,417 175.3 0.0
Wright County 12,897 93.0 85.3

A note on data vintages and definitions. Population is the US Census Bureau's 2018-2022 American Community Survey 5-year estimate. Sheriff staffing comes from the US Census Bureau's Census of Governments - Employment 2022 (March reference period); headcount equals full-time plus part-time positions across function codes 062 (sworn law enforcement), 162 (civilian law enforcement), and 005 (corrections). The Census publishes no true full-time-equivalent figures, and the March payroll snapshot is not directly comparable to a full annual operating budget. County jail data has not yet been loaded for Iowa; the state's county jails are inspected annually by the Iowa Department of Corrections' Chief Jail Inspector under Iowa Code § 356.43, with standards codified at Iowa Admin. Code 201, Title IV, ch. 50 (Jail Facilities), but no downloadable per-facility dataset from that program has been located. Sheriff department budget data has not yet been loaded for Iowa. Iowa Code ch. 69 lets a county's first deputy serve as sheriff between a mid-term vacancy and the appointment of a successor, so a name in the table can reflect a currently serving appointee rather than the last directly elected incumbent. Sheriff names were collected from the Iowa State Sheriffs' & Deputies' Association 2025 Sheriff Directory (dated April 4, 2025) and machine-verified against county sources in July 2026; all 99 counties are named.