Iowa cell towers at a glance
The FCC records list 3,194 cell towers and other antenna sites in Iowa: every registered antenna structure that is built and still standing, plus the licensed cellular transmitter sites too short to need registration. That ranks Iowa 19th of the 51 states and DC by number of registered sites. The most common structure is the tower, with 1,114 sites (35%). Des Moines has the most listed sites of any city, at 77.
To see the ones near you, tap Find towers near me above or type a Iowa ZIP code. The list ranks sites by distance and shows the direction to each, its height and its owner.
Carriers on the record in Iowa
Verizon is named on the most Iowa sites, 417 of them (13%). A carrier is named only when it owns the structure or its cellular licence lists the site, so these counts are a floor, not a total. Most towers in Iowa are owned by tower companies that rent space to several carriers without naming them.
| Carrier | Sites naming it | Share of Iowa sites |
|---|---|---|
| Verizon | 417 | 13% |
| AT&T | 28 | 0.9% |
| T-Mobile | 6 | 0.2% |
Who owns the towers in Iowa
The largest single owner name in Iowa is ARRAY DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE, INC., with 608 sites (19%). Tower companies file under several subsidiary names, so one company can appear more than once below. Our guide to who owns cell towers explains which names belong together.
| Owner as filed | Sites | Share |
|---|---|---|
| ARRAY DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE, INC. | 608 | 19% |
| American Towers LLC | 264 | 8.3% |
| Cellco Partnership | 93 | 2.9% |
| Alltel Corporation | 84 | 2.6% |
| INTERSTATE POWER AND LIGHT COMPANY | 75 | 2.3% |
| Vertical Bridge Development, LLC | 67 | 2.1% |
| IOWA STATE OF | 62 | 1.9% |
| Crown Castle Tower 05 LLC | 50 | 1.6% |
Types of structure
| Structure | Sites | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tower | 1,114 | 35% |
| Lattice tower | 899 | 28% |
| Guyed tower | 648 | 20% |
| Monopole | 281 | 8.8% |
| Other structure | 98 | 3.1% |
| Pole | 72 | 2.3% |
See types of cell towers for how to recognise each one.
Cities with the most listed sites
By the city named on each FCC filing. Filings use the nearest town, so rural towers count toward it. Each link opens the tower finder at the middle of that city's sites.
| City | Sites | |
|---|---|---|
| Des Moines | 77 | Towers around Des Moines |
| Council Bluffs | 49 | Towers around Council Bluffs |
| Iowa City | 44 | Towers around Iowa City |
| Cedar Rapids | 43 | Towers around Cedar Rapids |
| Waterloo | 38 | Towers around Waterloo |
| Davenport | 30 | Towers around Davenport |
| Sioux City | 30 | Towers around Sioux City |
| Ames | 28 | Towers around Ames |
| Boone | 23 | Towers around Boone |
| Decorah | 23 | Towers around Decorah |
Tallest registered structures in Iowa
The tallest is a tower near Alleman at 2,001 feet (610 m) overall, owned by Tribune Broadcasting Company II, LLC. Structures this tall are usually broadcast masts or buildings rather than cell sites, but many carry cell antennas partway up.
| Height | Type | City | Owner | ASR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,001 ft | Tower | Alleman | Tribune Broadcasting Company II, LLC | 1043707 |
| 2,001 ft | Guyed tower | Sioux City | Nexstar Media Inc. | 1018564 |
| 2,001 ft | Tower | Alleman | Hearst Properties Inc. | 1016799 |
| 1,998 ft | Guyed tower | Slater | American Tower LLC | 1061304 |
| 1,998 ft | Guyed tower | Rowley | Cedar-Rapids TV License Company, LLC | 1025917 |
What is not counted
FCC registration is required only for structures over 200 feet or near airports, so shorter monopoles, rooftop antennas and small cells in Iowa are mostly missing unless a cellular licence lists them. Why a tower is missing from the map explains the gap. The data is rebuilt monthly from the FCC's bulk files.