GradeLocal
State guide

Restaurant health inspection grades in Iowa

Coverage: all 99 counties

GradeLocal lists 16,425 Iowa restaurants. Their average score is 87.6, a B. This guide explains who inspects them, what the results mean and how the grades break down.

16,425restaurants listed
87.6 · Baverage score
99counties covered
Oct 15, 2026latest inspection date

See every Iowa grade

Who inspects restaurants in Iowa

Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing, plus the local health departments that post to its portal. Violation counts.

Coverage: Statewide, all 99 counties. All sources

What Iowa publishes

The agencies behind our Iowa listings publish violation counts. None of them publish a score out of 100, so every Iowa score on GradeLocal is a GradeLocal score, worked out from the official result.

How GradeLocal grades Iowa restaurants

For violation counts, we count every violation in the latest inspection. None is an A, 1 or 2 is a B, 3 to 5 is a C, and 6 or more is a D. An emergency closure order is also a D.

Results with no score of their own get a set score for each letter: A is 95, B is 85, C is 72 and D is 50.

There are four letters, A to D, with no F. The same rule applies in every state, and the cutoffs are never adjusted for a state, county or city. We always use the latest inspection.

How grades work has the full rules.

Most common official results in our Iowa data, and the letter each became
Official resultLetterListings
0 violationsA8,711
1 violationB3,202
2 violationsB1,913
3 violationsC1,101
4 violationsC620
5 violationsC361
6 violationsD222
7 violationsD126

How Iowa restaurants grade

The latest grade for each of the 16,425 listings.

A
8,711
53.0% · grade A
B
5,115
31.1% · grade B
C
2,082
12.7% · grade C
D
517
3.1% · grade D

Inspection dates in our Iowa data run from Dec 2, 2015 to Oct 15, 2026. 9,999 of the 16,425 listings (60.9%) were inspected in the 12 months before Oct 15, 2026, our latest record. A restaurant may have been inspected again since.

Top-rated places in Iowa

Every A-grade place in our Iowa data gets the same GradeLocal score (95), so this list shows the ten most recently inspected A-grade places, one per name.

  1. A
    Emmaus Bible CollegeDubuqueGradeLocal score 95, inspected Oct 15, 2026
  2. A
    Frozen Dreams LLCCouncil BluffsGradeLocal score 95, inspected Oct 15, 2026
  3. A
    Harolds ChickenCedar RapidsGradeLocal score 95, inspected Oct 15, 2026
  4. A
    K.C. Cakes & CajunCedar RapidsGradeLocal score 95, inspected Oct 15, 2026
  5. A
    Lasalle Catholic Elementary SchoolCedar RapidsGradeLocal score 95, inspected Oct 15, 2026
  6. A
    Lasalle Catholic Middle SchoolCedar RapidsGradeLocal score 95, inspected Oct 15, 2026
  7. A
    McKinley Middle School CafeteriaCedar RapidsGradeLocal score 95, inspected Oct 15, 2026
  8. A
    Perry Creek ElementarySioux CityGradeLocal score 95, inspected Oct 15, 2026
  9. A
    Prairie Heights ElementaryCedar RapidsGradeLocal score 95, inspected Oct 15, 2026
  10. A
    Ruthven Elem/High SchoolRuthvenGradeLocal score 95, inspected Oct 15, 2026

A grade shows one inspection on one day. Check the official record linked on each page.

Counties in Iowa

Every county with at least one listing. Pick one to see its restaurants.

CountyRestaurantsAverage
Adair County6393.9 · A
Adams County3789.9 · B
Allamakee County12386.2 · B
Appanoose County11888.0 · B
Audubon County5092.4 · A
Benton County14291.6 · A
Black Hawk County50587.8 · B
Boone County15186.0 · B
Bremer County16387.3 · B
Buchanan County12687.3 · B
Buena Vista County16488.1 · B
Butler County9788.9 · B
Calhoun County6389.5 · B
Carroll County17989.4 · B
Cass County11591.8 · A
Cedar County11486.1 · B
Cerro Gordo County34291.3 · A
Cherokee County8986.8 · B
Chickasaw County9088.2 · B
Clarke County7785.4 · B
Clay County13289.4 · B
Clayton County17287.2 · B
Clinton County30186.1 · B
Crawford County14488.4 · B
Dallas County49488.1 · B
Davis County6592.3 · A
Decatur County5684.0 · B
Delaware County12685.4 · B
Des Moines County25291.3 · A
Dickinson County26289.4 · B
Dubuque County50988.3 · B
Emmet County7789.6 · B
Fayette County13788.9 · B
Floyd County10288.4 · B
Franklin County6886.9 · B
Fremont County5689.6 · B
Greene County6785.3 · B
Grundy County8988.1 · B
Guthrie County10191.8 · A
Hamilton County10886.1 · B
Hancock County7289.5 · B
Hardin County15289.4 · B
Harrison County12089.4 · B
Henry County14790.1 · A
Howard County8388.8 · B
Humboldt County7288.2 · B
Ida County6290.7 · A
Iowa County14286.9 · B
Jackson County14487.2 · B
Jasper County23586.1 · B
Jefferson County12785.0 · B
Johnson County82886.9 · B
Jones County13485.4 · B
Keokuk County6285.7 · B
Kossuth County9786.6 · B
Lee County23590.0 · A
Linn County51586.5 · B
Louisa County7586.5 · B
Lucas County6484.8 · B
Lyon County8687.0 · B
Madison County10089.8 · B
Mahaska County13488.9 · B
Marion County25286.8 · B
Marshall County23784.3 · B
Mills County7188.9 · B
Mitchell County7488.3 · B
Monona County8689.4 · B
Monroe County6087.4 · B
Montgomery County7689.1 · B
Muscatine County26986.4 · B
O'Brien County8487.0 · B
Osceola County4986.9 · B
Page County8987.9 · B
Palo Alto County9389.5 · B
Plymouth County19487.7 · B
Pocahontas County4490.4 · A
Polk County57187.8 · B
Pottawattamie County49589.2 · B
Poweshiek County13984.4 · B
Ringgold County4387.4 · B
Sac County9389.3 · B
Scott County51480.8 · B
Shelby County10990.3 · A
Sioux County28986.5 · B
Story County50187.4 · B
Tama County13286.8 · B
Taylor County4689.5 · B
Union County7388.7 · B
Van Buren County5591.7 · A
Wapello County25884.8 · B
Warren County26185.1 · B
Washington County18990.1 · A
Wayne County4685.7 · B
Webster County22787.8 · B
Winnebago County8188.0 · B
Winneshiek County14987.7 · B
Woodbury County50685.0 · B
Worth County5989.3 · B
Wright County9987.3 · B

Questions about Iowa grades

Who inspects restaurants in Iowa?

Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing, plus the local health departments that post to its portal. Violation counts.

What does Iowa publish: a score, a letter or something else?

The agencies behind our Iowa listings publish violation counts. None of them publish a score out of 100, so every Iowa score on GradeLocal is a GradeLocal score, worked out from the official result.

How does GradeLocal grade restaurants in Iowa?

For violation counts, we count every violation in the latest inspection. None is an A, 1 or 2 is a B, 3 to 5 is a C, and 6 or more is a D. An emergency closure order is also a D. Results with no score of their own get a set score for each letter: A is 95, B is 85, C is 72 and D is 50. We always use the latest inspection.

How many Iowa restaurants are on GradeLocal?

16,425 restaurants in 99 counties. The average score is 87.6, a B. 53.0% have an A.

How current are the Iowa grades?

Inspection dates in our Iowa data run from Dec 2, 2015 to Oct 15, 2026. We update each state’s records regularly, but there is always a delay, and a restaurant may have been inspected again since. For the latest official report, follow the agency link on each restaurant’s page.

Neighboring states

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