DES MOINES – Cities are the engines driving Iowa’s economy and leaders of the state’s 10 largest cities say they need more tools to maintain their peak performance.

Mayor Ron Corbett

The economic success of Iowa’s largest cities seems to have been overlooked in the focus on the success of the farm economy, Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett said at a Feb. 8 Metro Coalition news conference on the Capitol steps.

“We’ve all seen and read the reports of the strong rural economy here in Iowa … record land prices … strong commodity prices … farm income on the rise,” Corbett said. “Certainly Iowa’s rural economy is strong.”

However, the state’s largest cities represent another economy that is equally as strong, he added.

“The urban core, the state’s 10 largest cities, are equally as strong and outperforming our size,” Corbett said.

Iowa’s 10 largest cities – Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Waterloo, Council Bluffs, Sioux City, Dubuque, Ames, Iowa City and West Des Moines — make up only 29 percent of the population, but they generate 36 percent of the jobs in the state and 39 percent of the state’s gross domestic product, according to a study done by Iowa State University economist David Swenson.

“This analysis looked at the economic impact of both the ten largest cities and the metropolitan counties and shows a large share of our economic wealth and productivity is generated by cities,” Swenson said, “It is clearly evident that the overall economic importance of Iowa’s metropolitan areas far exceeds their demographic strengths.”

In Waterloo, for instance, Mayor Buck Clark said 64 percent of the jobs are filled by non-residents. State wide the number is 62 percent. About 42 percent of the service sector jobs and 38 percent of trade jobs are filled by non-residents, Clark said.

“Labor income in cities is then exported and that wealth is distributed in suburban and exurban areas,” Clark said.

The impact can be seen in retail sales, too. Black Hawk County, where Waterloo is located, accounts for $1.7 billion in retail sales with $1.1 billion of that coming from Waterloo.

Swenson found Iowa’s 10 largest cities account for 47 percent of the state’s $32.9 billion in retail sales.

Corbett noted Gov. Terry Branstad has a goal of 200,000 new jobs in the next four years. The ISU study shows “cities are going to play a vital role in him achieving that goal.”

Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie warned lawmakers that some of their “creative” would ties cities’ hands on economic development and delivering services to their residents.

“So as we think about future of Iowa, and where people live and where people have jobs and where this economy is growing, we have to support those engines and those are the metropolitan areas,” Cownie said.