SKATEDEXSkateparks per capita in Iowa, 2026
Iowa ranks No. 15 of 50 states with 1.39 public, open skateparks per 100,000 residents (45 parks, population 3,238,387). The national rate is 0.77.
Iowa cities ranked
| In state | City | Parks | Population | Per 100k | National rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dubuque (Flora Skatepark) | 1 | 59,148 | 1.69 | 145 of 824 |
| 2 | Council Bluffs (Broadway Skatepark) | 1 | 62,680 | 1.60 | 167 of 824 |
| 3 | Waterloo (River Side Skatepark) | 1 | 66,919 | 1.49 | 195 of 824 |
| 4 | Ames (Ames Skatepark) | 1 | 68,220 | 1.47 | 201 of 824 |
| 5 | West Des Moines (Crossroads Skatepark) | 1 | 74,224 | 1.35 | 234 of 824 |
| 6 | Iowa City (Iowa City Skatepark) | 1 | 76,229 | 1.31 | 246 of 824 |
| 7 | Ankeny (Ankeny Skatepark) | 1 | 77,833 | 1.28 | 252 of 824 |
| 8 | Sioux City (Sioux City Skatepark) | 1 | 86,356 | 1.16 | 294 of 824 |
| 9 | Davenport (Davenport Skatepark) | 1 | 100,358 | 1.00 | 339 of 824 |
| 10 | Des Moines (Des Moines Skatepark, Lauridsen Skatepark) | 2 | 212,086 | 0.94 | 360 of 824 |
| 11 | Cedar Rapids | 0 | 137,935 | 0.00 | 570 of 824 |
Skatepark deserts in Iowa
Cedar Rapids: cities of 50,000+ with no public skatepark listed inside the city limits.
Neighboring states
Downloads
Press: a ready-to-run release for Iowa is at /press/2026/iowa.md.
Methodology
Parks. Only skateparks in the Skatedex directory marked public and open are counted: entries flagged private or permanently closed are excluded, as are parks without a map location. Directory as of 2026-09-16.
Population. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 Population Estimates (resident population as of July 1, 2025): state totals and incorporated-place totals. Cities are Census places (incorporated cities, towns and villages), not metro areas; a park counts for the place named in its address, or, when the address does not name a Census place, for the place whose boundary-equivalent circle contains it. Parks in unincorporated areas count for their state but no city.
Rates. Parks per 100,000 residents = parks divided by population times 100,000. States are ranked 1 to 50 (District of Columbia is shown with cities). Cities are ranked among all 824 incorporated places with at least 50,000 residents. Ties are broken by park count, then population.
Skatepark deserts. Places of at least 50,000 residents with no public, open skatepark listed in the Skatedex directory inside them by either test above. A listing gap and a real gap look the same here, so each desert shows the nearest listed public park; if you know of a park inside a listed city, submit it and the next edition will count it.
Change since last year. This is the first edition; the 2027 edition will show movement against these numbers.
How this differs from the Skatedex Annual Index. The Annual Index 2026 counts every listed park, uses the prior Census vintage, and scores cities by parks within a 10-mile radius of the center. These rankings use the newest vintage, public and open parks only, and place boundaries, so ranks differ. Both are free to cite with a link.