Iowa Retail & Service Business Threshold Analysis: A Comparative Look at Iowa's Counties

This report provides information for communities and business owners to increase their understanding of retail trends in Iowa and is Part 2 in the Threshold Analysis Series. The previous report focused on statewide threshold levels for retail and service businesses between the years 2000 and 2005, primarily to focus on trends in the number of people required for certain businesses to be sustainable. This report provides a more in depth analysis of threshold levels at the county level recognizing that Iowa’s retail landscape is diverse and the differences between counties vast. Using County Business Pattern data and Non-Employer Statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau for 2005, this report groups similar counties into peer groups to take into account differences in income levels, commuting patterns, and degrees of rurality. The results demonstrate that threshold levels for very few businesses and services are consistent across the state’s counties. Specialized retail stores see increasing thresholds the further from the metro area we move while common services like waste collection and death care services see declining threshold levels. The results indicate that county specific analysis can highlight where we see agglomeration of services, economies of scale, and where the elasticity of price and convenience matter most to the consumer. The report includes county by county comparison with their respective peer group, tables reporting the employer and non-employer data, and suggestions on where opportunities for more research exist.