The Honest LocalA community forum for neighbors
Movers’ Report · Iowa week of September 18, 2026

Iowa gas ticks up while home prices and jobs barely move

AAA's got gas at $4.11 a gallon statewide, up from $4.06, while everything else in Iowa held still.

By The Honest Local · every number links to its public source · 4 readings across 1 places
+1.3%regular gas price in Iowa, $4.06 to $4.11AAA · Sep 17
Iowa
Iowa, where this week’s biggest move landed.
The movers largest changes this period, with source and date

Fill up in Iowa and you'll notice it. AAA has the state average at $4.11 a gallon, up from $4.06. That's not a huge jump on its own, but it's the only thing in this month's tape that actually moved.

Home values crept up too, just barely. Zillow's home value index has the typical Iowa home at $239,547, up from $238,957. Call it a rounding error dressed up as a trend. Nobody's equity changed in any way that matters.

Listing prices didn't move at all. Realtor.com and FRED have the median list price flat at $285,000, same as last month. If you're house hunting, sellers aren't budging on price, but they're not pushing it higher either.

Jobs are steady, for better or worse. BLS has Iowa's unemployment rate flat at 3.2%. That's a fine number to have, but it means nothing's loosening up for job seekers and nothing's tightening for employers. Whatever a month, Iowa's economy right now is mostly just gas costing a little more.

  • Iowa's regular gas price rose 1.3% to $4.11 a gallon in September 2026, per AAA's state average.
  • Iowa's typical home value rose 0.2% to $239,547 in August 2026, per Zillow's Home Value Index.
  • Iowa's median listing price held flat at $285,000 in August 2026, per FRED/realtor.com.
  • Iowa's unemployment rate held flat at 3.2% in July 2026, per BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics.
How this report is built. Every figure comes from a public series read this week: Zillow’s rent and home value indexes, FRED’s listing price series from realtor.com, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ local unemployment rates, and AAA’s state gas averages. The prose is drafted from those readings and checked number by number against them before it publishes. Unemployment moves are shown in percentage points. Nothing here is a forecast.
Sources and method
  1. AAA, IA state average · Regular gas
  2. FRED / realtor.com, series MEDLISPRIIA · Listing price
  3. Zillow Home Value Index (state) · Home value
  4. BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics · Unemployment

The Honest Local publishes a Movers’ Report for each state it covers, weekly, from public data. Readings that go stale are dropped, not carried. Every value on this page carries its source in the page’s structured data.