Sell plastic pallets in Iowa
Iowa had 19,824 warehousing jobs in 2025, 29th among the states, and its most concentrated pallet-using industry is meat and poultry processing. Send the lot with its ZIP; the desk reads size, style, grade and marks, and rules it sold, returned or scrapped.
Last reviewed November 12, 2026
Iowa in numbers
- Warehousing and storage jobs, 2025
- 19,824 (29th of 50 states)
- Warehousing establishments
- 338 (22nd of 50); about 59 jobs each
- Share of US warehousing jobs
- 1.04%
- Food manufacturing jobs
- 60,161 (10th of 50)
- Most concentrated pallet-using industry
- meat and poultry processing, 6.1x the national share of employment
- Pharmaceutical manufacturing jobs
- 4,094
- Motor vehicle assembly jobs
- 346
- Auto parts jobs
- 4,137
- Refrigerated warehouse space, October 1, 2025
- 70 million cubic feet (18th of 50)
Reading an Iowa lot
Count the warehouses and Iowa comes 22nd; count the jobs in them and it comes 29th. It sits in the middle of the fifty by warehousing jobs. With about 59 people a site against a national 82, a lot is often a few stacks from one of many small docks.
Iowa has 3.0 food manufacturing jobs for every warehousing job, against 0.9 across the fifty states. The plants are the bigger half of the picture, and they swap pallets on a schedule more than on wear. Among the other industries counted here, auto parts (4,137 jobs) is 12 times the size of motor vehicle assembly (346).
Polk County holds 22.2% of Iowa's warehousing jobs, and the top 3 listed hold 50.4%. The jobs are spread across the state, so no one county sets the route. The dossier follows one metro in Iowa: Des Moines-West Des Moines.
USDA counted 70 million cubic feet of refrigerated warehouse space in Iowa, 18th of 50 and about 3,531 cubic feet for each warehousing job, against 2,254 across the states it reports. Cold storage is a bigger part of the picture here, so expect cold-chain lots: decks that tolerate cold and moisture, and questions about washdown.
Where Iowa's warehousing jobs sit
| County | Warehousing jobs | Share of the state's total |
|---|---|---|
| Polk | 4,393 | 22.2% |
| Scott | 3,450 | 17.4% |
| Black Hawk | 2,144 | 10.8% |
What Iowa's industries put on the dock
- Meat and poultry processing: 33,386 jobs, 2025
- Food manufacturing: 60,161 jobs, 2025
- Refrigerated warehousing: 1,814 jobs, 2025
- Dairy product manufacturing: 3,922 jobs, 2025
- Plastics product manufacturing: 8,910 jobs, 2025
By location quotient meat and poultry processing leads in Iowa, with 6.1 times the national share of employment. The page on meat and poultry plants shows what that industry sets down on a dock.
The metro that matters in Iowa
Des Moines-West Des Moines. Des Moines-West Des Moines: 6 counties (Dallas, Guthrie, Jasper, Madison, Polk, Warren). 4,393 private jobs in warehousing and storage in 2025 (0.23% of the US total; 1.2% of local private jobs), disclosed counties only. Largest warehousing counties: Polk (4,393). Most concentrated: food manufacturing at 1.0x the national share of employment. ZIPs with the most warehousing establishments (Census ZBP 2023): 50313 Des Moines (13), 50021 Ankeny (7), 50111 Grimes (6), 50317 Des Moines (4), 50035 Bondurant (4).
Where Iowa sits among the fifty
| Measure, 2025 | Iowa | Next state above | Next state below |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warehousing jobs | 29th: 19,824 | Massachusetts, 20,695 (+871) | Oklahoma, 19,669 (-155) |
| Warehousing establishments | 22nd: 338 | Arizona, 345 (+7) | Louisiana, 326 (-12) |
| Food manufacturing jobs | 10th: 60,161 | New York, 60,316 (+155) | Arkansas, 51,799 (-8,362) |
States next to Iowa
| State | Warehousing jobs | Largest county for warehousing | Food manufacturing jobs | Top concentration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota | 17,921 | Hennepin (3,616) | 47,829 | meat and poultry processing |
| Wisconsin | 33,054 | Kenosha (8,358) | 81,993 | dairy product manufacturing |
| Illinois | 80,071 | Will (25,357) | 98,300 | pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing |
| Missouri | 26,726 | St. Charles (5,782) | 45,268 | motor vehicle manufacturing |
| Nebraska | 8,246 | Sarpy (3,613) | 41,939 | meat and poultry processing |
| South Dakota | 3,269 | Minnehaha (2,930) | 10,866 | meat and poultry processing |
Iowa has fewer warehousing jobs than 3 of these 6 and more than the rest. The largest of them, Illinois, has 4.0 times Iowa's 19,824. A lot near a state line can be read against either side, so give the exact ZIP.
More on Iowa from the sources
- Private employers in the US averaged 556,647 jobs across 4,689 establishments in meat and poultry processing (NAICS 3116) in 2025 (BLS QCEW). States with the most jobs: Texas (44,780), Georgia (42,030), North Carolina (35,715), Arkansas (34,773), Iowa (33,386). (data.bls.gov)
- States where food manufacturing is the largest share of private jobs in 2025 (BLS QCEW): Nebraska (4.9%), Arkansas (4.7%), Iowa (4.6%), Alaska (3.4%), Wisconsin (3.2%); the national share is 1.33%. (data.bls.gov)
- States where meat and poultry processing is the largest share of private jobs in 2025 (BLS QCEW): Nebraska (3.7%), Arkansas (3.1%), Iowa (2.6%), Delaware (2.4%), Mississippi (2.0%); the national share is 0.42%. (data.bls.gov)
- States where dairy product manufacturing is the largest share of private jobs in 2025 (BLS QCEW): Wisconsin (1.1%), Vermont (0.8%), Idaho (0.7%), South Dakota (0.4%), Iowa (0.3%); the national share is 0.13%. (data.bls.gov)
Other pallet-using industries counted in Iowa
| Industry | Jobs, 2025 | Against warehousing jobs |
|---|---|---|
| Pharmaceutical manufacturing | 4,094 | 0.2 to 1 |
| Motor vehicle assembly | 346 | 0.0 to 1 |
| Auto parts | 4,137 | 0.2 to 1 |
Sending a lot from Iowa
Count the stacks, give the ZIP where they stand, and use the sorter or the form below. If the dock holds a clean line-change stock, say so in the message.
How many warehousing jobs does Iowa have?
19,824 private-sector jobs across 338 establishments in 2025, 1.04% of the US total, which ranks Iowa 29th of 50.
Do you take plastic pallets from Iowa?
Yes. The desk reads lots from every state, and the ZIP lets it read the route in Iowa. This site states no price or pickup date.
Which Iowa industry is most concentrated?
Meat and poultry processing, at 6.1 times the national share of employment in the 2025 federal data used here.
Who asks, and what they need
- Plants changing packaging or pallet size
- Retire a whole stock of one footprint at once; want it sold or ground up, not landfilled.
- Plastic recyclers and pallet makers
- Buy broken pallets by weight as HDPE or PP feedstock; want clean, sorted, separated by resin and colour.
- Pharmaceutical and healthcare shippers
- Hygienic pallets that can be sanitised; documents on resin and colour; PP sometimes preferred for sterilisation.
What the sources say
- Private employers in the US averaged 556,647 jobs across 4,689 establishments in meat and poultry processing (NAICS 3116) in 2025 (BLS QCEW). States with the most jobs: Texas (44,780), Georgia (42,030), North Carolina (35,715), Arkansas (34,773), Iowa (33,386). (data.bls.gov)
- Private employers in the US averaged 168,222 jobs across 2,809 establishments in dairy product manufacturing (NAICS 3115) in 2025 (BLS QCEW). States with the most jobs: Wisconsin (28,840), California (18,374), New York (11,603), Ohio (8,963), Texas (7,529). (data.bls.gov)
- States where dairy product manufacturing is the largest share of private jobs in 2025 (BLS QCEW): Wisconsin (1.1%), Vermont (0.8%), Idaho (0.7%), South Dakota (0.4%), Iowa (0.3%); the national share is 0.13%. (data.bls.gov)
- Rehrig Pacific offers the standard-duty nestable with recycled content of up to 90 percent in black, and describes it as 100 percent recyclable. (rehrigpacific.com)
- Plastic pallets are often described as lasting 100 trips or more, and can cost roughly 10 times as much as hardwood pallets. (en.wikipedia.org)
- ISO 6780 lists 1016 x 1219 mm for North America, 1000 x 1200 mm for Europe and Asia and 800 x 1200 mm for Europe. (en.wikipedia.org)
- Rehrig Pacific's 40 x 48 heavy-duty nestable pallet is 48.25 x 40.25 x 6.5 in, weighs 28.5 lb, is rated 10,000 lb static and 3,500 lb dynamic, has a 2.55 in nest increment and 1,200 units per 53 ft trailer; the page lists no racking rating. (rehrigpacific.com)
- Rehrig Pacific's heavy-duty nestable can be made with post-consumer or post-industrial recycled material, up to 30 percent in black and up to 10 percent in colour, and is RFID compatible. (rehrigpacific.com)
- Counties with the most private motor vehicle parts manufacturing jobs (NAICS 3363) in 2025, BLS QCEW, counties with disclosed data only: Wayne County, Michigan (20,888), Macomb County, Michigan (20,279), Oakland County, Michigan (16,970), Kent County, Michigan (8,688), Spartanburg County, South Carolina (6,496), Cook County, Illinois (6,273). (data.bls.gov)
- States where meat and poultry processing is the largest share of private jobs in 2025 (BLS QCEW): Nebraska (3.7%), Arkansas (3.1%), Iowa (2.6%), Delaware (2.4%), Mississippi (2.0%); the national share is 0.42%. (data.bls.gov)
- Rehrig Pacific's 40 x 48 standard-duty nestable pallet weighs 26.5 lb with a static rating of 10,000 lb and dynamic 3,000 lb. (rehrigpacific.com)
- That nestable has a 2.50 in nest increment and 1,260 units per 53 ft trailer. (rehrigpacific.com)
- That used pallet is listed as pharma and food safe but not approved for direct food contact, in colours that vary. (nelsoncompany.com)
- Pallet capacities are issued by the manufacturer from calculation and lab or field tests, and assume an evenly distributed load. (nelsoncompany.com)
- Freezing can make some pallet materials brittle and reduce performance. (nelsoncompany.com)
- PHS lists a 48 x 48 stackable pallet (STK 207) at 4,000 lb dynamic and 30,000 lb static. (phsinc.com)
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