# Vending machine locations in Iowa: the 2026 record

> Iowa sits on the boundary between the worked Midwest and the blank plains. Wisconsin has seven placements; Nebraska, Minnesota and South Dakota have none.

- Canonical URL: https://vendingmachineslocations.com/vending-locator-iowa-by-the-numbers/
- Publication: Dwell Time (https://vendingmachineslocations.com/)
- By: Dwell Time Data Desk
- Edited by: Max Zulsky, Editor, Dwell Time (https://vendingmachineslocations.com/authors/max-zulsky/)
- Published: 2026-10-07

Iowa has no signed placement, and where it sits is more informative than the zero itself. To the north-east, Wisconsin holds seven venues and ties for the deepest record in the dataset. To the west, Nebraska and South Dakota hold none. Iowa is the boundary.

Figures below come from the 87 signed listings open on [PinPoint Vending's marketplace](https://pinpoint-vending.com/marketplace) on October 5, 2026. Traffic is venue-reported and unaudited; no listing reports sales.

**By the numbers**

| Measure | Iowa |
|---|---:|
| Signed placements | 0 |
| Bordering states with placements | 3 of 6 |
| Placements in those three | 10 |
| Bordering states with none | Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota |
| Nearest deep record | Wisconsin, 7 placements |
| States with no placement | 21 of 50 |

## Where exactly does the record stop?

At the Mississippi, roughly. Sorting Iowa's neighbours by what they hold produces a clean east–west split.

| Bordering state | Signed placements |
|---|---:|
| Wisconsin | 7 |
| Illinois | 2 |
| Missouri | 1 |
| Minnesota | 0 |
| Nebraska | 0 |
| South Dakota | 0 |

Ten placements on Iowa's eastern and southern flanks, none on its northern or western ones. That is the clearest boundary visible anywhere in this dataset: the states east of Iowa are worked, the states west of it are not, and Iowa is the one in between.

It makes Iowa a different kind of blank from Indiana, which is ringed entirely by active states and therefore hard to account for. Iowa's zero fits a straightforward story — a route network that reached the Mississippi and has not crossed it — though the record cannot confirm that any more than it can confirm the alternatives.

## Does a boundary state tell you anything extra?

A little, and it is about direction rather than demand. If the blank interior west is an unworked region and the Midwest is a worked one, then Iowa is the next state a westward-extending route would reach, and Nebraska and South Dakota the ones after that.

Nothing in the record predicts whether that happens. What it does establish is that Iowa is not isolated in the way Montana or Nevada are: Wisconsin's seven venues are a few hours from the Iowa line, closer than several within-state pairs elsewhere in this dataset. Dubuque is nearer to Wisconsin's Platteville placement than Peru, Illinois is to Hillsboro, Illinois — and both of those are in the record.

For an operator, that makes an Iowa venue a reasonable ask of a locator working the upper Midwest, and [vending machine locations by state](https://vendingmachineslocations.com/vending-locations-by-state/) shows which other states sit in a similar position.

## What would an Iowa venue be worth, on national figures?

An estimate, labelled as one, with Wisconsin's listings as the nearest real comparison.

| Reference figure | National record |
|---|---:|
| Median venue share | 40% of net |
| Range | 30% to 50% |
| Pass-through venues | 50% of net, all eleven |
| Destination venues | 40%, sometimes 30% |
| Minimum term | 16 months, every listing |
| Operator keeps per $8 sale at 40% | $3.72 |

Treating the $1.80 cost of goods in the agreements as the operator's whole cost per sale, before card fees.

Wisconsin is the better guide than the national median for anyone assessing an Iowa venue. Its seven placements report shares between 30% and 40% and traffic across a wide range, and they sit in a state with comparable winters, comparable venue types and comparable small-city geography.

## Which venue types would Iowa supply?

The four that carry the record, spread along two interstate corridors rather than concentrated in one metro.

| Venue type | National placements | Median visitors a day | Visitor-hours a day |
|---|---:|---:|---:|
| Family entertainment centre | 11 | 178 | 445 |
| Trampoline park | 7 | 274 | 411 |
| Bowling alley | 18 | 137 | 370 |
| Indoor playground | 15 | 110 | 164 |

The right-hand column converts footfall into hours of exposure, which is what a machine sells into, following the method behind [our ranking of vending locations](https://vendingmachineslocations.com/best-vending-machine-locations/).

Iowa's distribution — Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Davenport, Sioux City — is the kind that supports a serviceable multi-venue route, each venue needing to clear the thresholds in [how much foot traffic a vending machine needs](https://vendingmachineslocations.com/how-much-foot-traffic-vending-machine/) rather than a single placement, which is a structural feature the record cannot measure but which usually precedes a cluster rather than an absence.

## What would change Iowa's position?

A route crossing the Mississippi. Because Iowa's blank is a boundary rather than an island, the informative event is not an Iowa placement specifically but any placement west of the river — after which Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota become ordinary prospects rather than frontier ones.

Until then, Iowa is best read as the first unworked state rather than a market that has been tested and declined. Nothing in this record tests demand anywhere.

## Frequently asked questions

### How many vending machine placements does Iowa have on the record?

None. Iowa is one of 21 states with no signed placement in the marketplace listings collected on October 5, 2026.

### What about Iowa's neighbours?

Split. Wisconsin has seven placements, Illinois two and Missouri one, while Nebraska, Minnesota and South Dakota have none. Iowa sits on the boundary between the worked Midwest and the blank plains.

### Is Iowa's gap like Indiana's?

No. Indiana is ringed entirely by active states, which makes its blank hard to explain. Iowa has active neighbours on two sides and blank ones on three, which fits a route network that has reached the Mississippi and stopped.

### What would an Iowa venue be paid?

Only a national estimate: a median of 40% of net across 81 signed placements, with pass-through venues at 50% and destination venues mostly at 40% or 30%.

### Does Iowa have the venue types that sign elsewhere?

Yes, distributed along two interstate corridors — Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Iowa City and Sioux City all have bowling alleys, indoor playgrounds, family entertainment centres and trampoline parks.

## Next step

Use Wisconsin rather than the national median when assessing an Iowa venue: seven documented placements in a state with similar geography, winters and venue types are a closer comparison than an average drawn from Florida and California. Then ask any locator quoting you Iowa how far west of the Mississippi its route actually runs.

## Sources

- [Nationwide Vending Locators: service, fees and coverage pages, checked October 6, 2026](https://nationwidevendinglocators.com/)
- [Sports and Exercise, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017 spotlight, 2009–15 data)](https://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2017/sports-and-exercise/home.htm)
- [Unattended food establishments and vending machines, Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing](https://dial.iowa.gov/licenses/food-establishments-hotels/unattended-food-establishments)
- [PinPoint Vending: stated coverage and open marketplace listings, collected October 5 and 6, 2026](https://pinpoint-vending.com/marketplace)