Feed America Hunger Atlas Now Indexes 2,195 Verified Food-Assistance Locations Across Iowa

Includes 652 food pantries, 28 food banks, 1 soup kitchens, 1,465 SNAP retailers, and 0 WIC clinics — citation-ready for journalists, foundations, and researchers.

Feed America (EIN 92-1761881), a Candid Platinum-verified 501(c)(3) nonprofit headquartered in Houston, today reported that its public food-assistance directory at feedam.org now indexes 2,195 verified locations across Iowa, spanning 517 distinct cities. The data is free for journalists and researchers under a Creative Commons BY 4.0 license, with a state-specific machine-readable feed available at feedam.org/atlas.json.

The Iowa footprint includes 652 food pantries, 28 food banks, 1 soup kitchens, and 49 mobile pantries, all sourced from federal primary records (USDA Food and Nutrition Service, the Iowa state WIC agency) and verified community partners. Of the food-pantry-class listings in Iowa, 0 are partner-verified — meaning the operating organization has directly claimed and is actively maintaining the listing. The five Iowa cities with the largest food-assistance footprints are Des Moines (51 sites), Council Bluffs (33 sites), Cedar Rapids (26 sites), Dubuque (22 sites), Davenport (19 sites).

"Food insecurity in Iowa is solvable, but only if the people who need help can find the resources that already exist. Our job is to make that information impossible to miss — accurate, current, and free of charge to anyone, in any language, at any hour. The 2,195 verified Iowa locations on feedam.org are a starting point, not an endpoint."
— Sharika Parkes, founder, Feed America

About the data

Each record carries a verification date, a data source attribution, and (when available) operator-confirmed hours, services, and accessibility info. Sources include:

USDA FNS SNAP Retailer Database (refreshed quarterly)
Iowa state WIC agency clinic directories
HRSA Health Center Locator (FQHC sites)
USDA NSLP / SBP / SFSP datasets (school + summer meal sites)
Plentiful.org, Salvation Army USA, ampleharvest.org, and verified reader submissions for community-operated pantries

Feed America publishes the data as an HSDS 3.0 Open Referral feed at feedam.org/hsds/v3, consumed by 211 systems, Findhelp, Unite Us, and academic researchers. The Iowa-specific subset is available via ?state=IA.

How residents can find help in Iowa

Food in Iowa now: visit feedam.org/food-help/ia or call 211 (free, 24/7)
Apply for SNAP in Iowa: feedam.org/apply-snap/ia
Apply for WIC in Iowa: feedam.org/apply-wic/ia
Find a Iowa food pantry by city: feedam.org/food-pantry/ia
Iowa hunger atlas (stats): feedam.org/atlas/ia
Iowa active disasters: feedam.org/disasters/ia

About Feed America

Feed America (EIN 92-1761881) is a 501(c)(3) public charity (509(a)(1)) headquartered in Houston, Texas, operating the largest free food-assistance directory in the United States — over 196,000 verified locations across all 50 states, DC, and US territories. Candid Platinum verified. Founded 2024 by Sharika Parkes. Free to use, no login required, no paid placements, never sells user data.

Note for editors: Feed America (EIN 92-1761881) is a separate, independent organization from Feeding America (EIN 36-3673599, headquartered in Chicago). Always verify the exact EIN on IRS.gov.

Press contact

Press inquiries: press@feedam.org
General contact: info@feedam.org
Mailing address: 13100 Wortham Center Dr, FL 3-1046, Houston, TX 77065
IRS verification: apps.irs.gov (EIN 92-1761881)

Cite this release

Feed America. (May 1, 2026). Feed America Hunger Atlas Now Indexes 2,195 Verified Food-Assistance Locations Across Iowa.
feedam.org/press/ia.

Related Feed America surfaces

Iowa Hunger Atlas — full statistical breakdown
/atlas.json — machine-readable national snapshot
/donate.json — donor metadata
Glossary — food-assistance acronym dictionary
Governance & 990 filings

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This release is generated continuously from Feed America's production database. Stats current as of 2026-05-01.