Data and information about the business climate that can be used to identify trends and develop policy for future economic enhancement in the Greater Dubuque region.
A central location, connected to the world.
The Greater Dubuque area commands a central North American location in the heart of the Midwest, a convenient distance from major urban areas and large consumer markets.
Its many transit and shipping options, including 4-lane connections, rail service, local and regional commercial airports, and Mississippi River barge harbor service. Our location makes it easy to get your product to market.
The Greater Dubuque area is connected to U.S. Interstates 80 and 90 via four-lane U.S. Highway 61, and to U.S. Interstate 35 via four-lane U.S. Highway 20. Dubuque also has access to Interstate 380 (Cedar Rapids, IA) and Interstates 39 and 94 (Madison, WI) via four-lane U.S. Highway 151.
The Dubuque Regional Airport serves the Greater Dubuque area with commercial service on Avelo Airlines to Orlando, Florida.
In the summer of 2016, the Dubuque Regional Airport completed a $37 million new terminal project. This project provides the airport the capacity to house multiple airlines, if needed, provide additional parking, and offer an improved experience to business travelers.
Dubuque Regional Airport
10965 Aviation Drive
Dubuque IA 52003
563-589-4128
Website
O'Hare International Airport
10000 West O'Hare
Chicago IL 60666
1-800-832-6352
Website
The Greater Dubuque area is also located within an easy 90-minute drive of the Quad City International Airport (Moline, IL), The Eastern Iowa Airport (Cedar Rapids, IA), the Dane County Regional Airport (Madison, WI), and the Chicago Rockford International Airport (Rockford, IL), all of which offer connections to major hubs such as Chicago O’Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, New York, Newark, Salt Lake City, Washington DC, Charlotte, Denver, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Detroit, Phoenix/Mesa, Las Vegas, Orlando, Tampa, and Los Angeles.
Quad City International Airport
2200 69th Avenue
Moline IL 61265
309-764-9621
Website
The Eastern Iowa Airport
2121 Arthur Collins Parkway SW
Cedar Rapids IA 52404
319-362-8336
Website
Dane County Regional Airport
4000 International Lane
Madison, WI 53704
608-246-3380
Website
Chicago Rockford International Airport
60 Airport Drive
Rockford, IL 61109
815-969-4000
Website
The Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad Corp. (IC&E) operates the rail line along the Mississippi River. With tracks that run north/south through Dubuque with daily switching service. The Canadian National/Illinois Central (CN/IC) offers intermodal facilities and daily switching service in Dubuque.
The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Company (BNSF) operates a line across the Mississippi River from Dubuque and serves the Dubuque area via trackage rights over another railroad.
To learn more about Iowa's railways, visit the Iowa Department of Transportation's Office of Rail Transportation Website.
Dubuque is strategically located adjacent to the Mississippi River, offering area industries the advantage of barge transportation. Barges provide a low-cost, important means of shipment for coal, grain, fuel, chemicals, iron, steel, and more.
The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers maintains a 9-foot shipping channel and manages the series of locks and dams between St. Paul, MN, and St. Louis, MO. Lock and Dam #11 is located at Dubuque. Eight river terminals in Dubuque and two fleeting/harbor services provide navigational assistance to the barge industry.
To learn more about barge service in our region, visit the US Army Corps of Engineers – Rock Island District Website.
| City | Distance (in miles) | Distance (in kilometers) |
|---|---|---|
| Quad Cities, IA | 70 | 113 |
| Cedar Rapids, IA | 70 | 113 |
| Madison, WI | 90 | 145 |
| Waterloo, IA | 91 | 146 |
| Rockford, IL | 94 | 151 |
| Peoria, IL | 168 | 070 |
| Milwaukee, WI | 171 | 275 |
| Chicago, IL | 183 | 295 |
| Des Moines, IA | 189 | 304 |
| Twin Cities, MN | 260 | 418 |
| St. Louis, MO | 310 | 499 |
| Omaha, NE | 320 | 515 |
| Kansas City, MO | 393 | 634 |
A highly-competitive tax policy that favors growth.
The state of Iowa wants business to succeed. That’s why the state has developed a tax code that favors businesses who locate here with special advantages over other locations.
Iowa's corporate income tax is a single-factor, nonunitary tax based only on the percentage of total sales income within the state. For example, an Iowa manufacturer selling all its products outside Iowa pays no Iowa corporate income tax.
Iowa is one of only five states that offers federal deductibility. This allows businesses to deduct 50 percent of federal taxes from any Iowa Corporate Income Tax obligation.
Iowa offers many tax advantages, including but not limited to:
To view a state comparison of Iowa and our surrounding states, click here.
For 2023-2024, the City of Dubuque property tax levy is $9.90135 per $1,000 as of July 2023, taxable valuation. Additional levies include school district, area school, and county for a total levy of $31.55253.
Iowa has one of the lowest new employer unemployment insurance rates in the nation. The 2021 standard new employer rate for all non-construction businesses for a three-year period is 1.0 percent on a $32,400 wage base.
Iowa's worker's compensation costs are among the nation's lowest. The average worker's compensation insurance cost in Iowa is 16 percent lower than the national average. Under Iowa law, the employer has the right to choose the physician and medical care for employees injured at work.
Business can’t run without the utilities that power innovation and output.
That’s why our providers employ state-of-the-art services that take energy and communications into the twenty-first century.
Dubuque’s Water & Resource Recovery Center invested $65-million to upgrade the city’s wastewater capacity. The new facility features more efficient and sustainable treatment methods, reduced operational and maintenance costs, and a smaller carbon footprint.
The City of Dubuque Waste Water system provides:
In event of a power failure, the plant and all major pumping stations have backup generators that start automatically. All pumping stations have at least one and sometimes two pumps as backups.
The City of Dubuque Water system furnishes an abundant water supply. Supply is pulled from five shallow and four deep wells. Water is supplied by the Jordan and Mt. Simon Aquifers. Both the United States Geological Survey and Iowa Department of National Resources have concluded that there area no threats or issues pertaining to the Jordan aquifer's ability to meet the water demand needs for the City of Dubuque. Therefore, Dubuque is no a Protected Water Source Area. The treatment facility uses chlorination, fluoridation, filtration, and lime softening processes to exceed with all federal and state primary drinking water standards.
The City of Dubuque Water system provides:
City-owned Industrial Parks are supplied with two (2) 16" water lines throughout that form a loop system for redundancy. Electricity to the water plant is supplied from two separate power grids for redundancy and there are backup generators on site.
Two separate water sources provide water to the industrial park and are interconnected. The 16" water main on the south is supplied by 1.25 million gallon water tower on the Northwest Arterial, and the 12" water main on the north is supplied by the 3 million gallon water tower on Pennsylvania Avenue. These systems are separate. If for some reason one is interrupted, the other is continuously available.
Two main providers service the Greater Dubuque area with competitive and reliable electric energy: Alliant Energy and Maquoketa Valley Electric Cooperative.
Within the Dubuque Industrial Center West & South, Alliant Energy provides:
Within the Dubuque Industrial Center South, Maquoketa Valley Electric provides:
The Greater Dubuque area is served by Black Hills Energy Corp for its natural gas service.
Within the Dubuque Industrial Center West & South, Black Hills Energy provides:
State-of-art telecommunications capacity and services are in place throughout the Greater Dubuque area with multiple providers of fiber optics and telephony services. The City of Dubuque and communications providers have formed unique partnerships to increase services and reduce costs to area businesses.
Providers of telecommunications in our area include:
As a White House Climate Champion Community, Dubuque can also offer access to renewable energy resources and services ranging from solar to biogas. The Greater Dubuque area has a host of public and private programs available to business to improve their energy efficiency.
Solar Providers in our area:
We know our greatest asset is the vibrant businesses that already call the Greater Dubuque region home.
Retaining and supporting these employers is paramount to our broader mission. These efforts are supported by InfoAction, a long-standing, award-winning program that gathers actionable data and allows us to maximize opportunities for our regional businesses.
Every year, the Greater Dubuque Development team conducts face-to-face interviews with more than 250 area business owners, CEOs, and top managers.
By learning more about our employers, we can offer targeted services that help them expand, recruit workers, train employees, obtain financing, and manage their supply chains.
Your business can be great here – and we take concrete steps to maintain that excellence and keep our community moving forward.
View recent findings from InfoAction:
Your team can be great here.
