Des Moinesruns on a handful of strong industries. If you’re job-hunting or weighing a move, here’s where the opportunities (and the big-name employers) are.
Top industries & employers
Insurance & financial services
Principal Financial Group (headquartered downtown), Athene, Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, Nationwide, EMC Insurance, Voya, Global Atlantic, American Equity, Farm Bureau Financial Services, Businessolver
Des Moines is one of the largest insurance centres in the United States by employment relative to its size, and the reason the city has a downtown skyline at all. Principal is a Fortune 500 company headquartered here; Athene runs a large operation in West Des Moines. Actuarial, underwriting, claims, compliance and increasingly data-science roles are the backbone of the professional job market, and this cluster is unusually welcoming to relocating specialists because it cannot recruit enough of them locally.
Agriculture, agtech & bioscience
Corteva Agriscience (headquartered in Johnston), Kemin Industries (headquartered here), John Deere Des Moines Works in Ankeny, Vermeer in nearby Pella, a dense seed and crop-input research layer
Corteva's global headquarters and research campus sit in Johnston on the city's north-west edge, and the seed, trait and crop-protection science around it is world-class. Kemin is a family-owned Des Moines multinational in feed and food ingredients. The World Food Prize is headquartered downtown in the restored former public library and runs an international symposium here each October — which is why agricultural policy people from everywhere turn up in Des Moines in autumn.
Data centres & cloud infrastructure
Microsoft in West Des Moines, Meta in Altoona, Apple in Waukee, plus the utility and construction supply chain around them
Central Iowa's cheap wind power, cool climate and geological stability made it one of the largest hyperscale data-centre clusters in the country. The permanent headcount per site is modest — these are capital projects more than employment projects — but the construction, electrical, mechanical and network-operations demand is sustained and well paid, and it has pulled a serious fibre backbone into the metro.
State government & public sector
The State of Iowa, Polk County, the City of Des Moines, Des Moines Public Schools, the Iowa Judicial Branch, federal agencies at the Neal Smith building
Des Moines is the state capital, and the Capitol's gold dome is visible from most of the city. State government is one of the largest single employers in the metro and sets the rhythm of downtown between January and April when the legislature is in session. Iowa hiring generally requires work authorisation but not citizenship outside law enforcement and a few specific roles.
Health care
MercyOne Des Moines, UnityPoint Health (headquartered here) and its Iowa Methodist and Blank Children's hospitals, Broadlawns Medical Center, Des Moines University
UnityPoint Health is headquartered in Des Moines and runs Iowa Methodist Medical Center and Blank Children's Hospital; MercyOne is the other major system. Broadlawns is Polk County's public hospital — a genuine county-funded safety net of the kind many US metros no longer have. Des Moines University moved to a new West Des Moines campus in 2023, so the medical-education layer here is newer than the city's reputation suggests.
Logistics, manufacturing & distribution
Amazon fulfilment in Bondurant and Grimes, Kum & Go and Casey's General Stores (both Iowa-founded retail chains), Titan Tire in Des Moines, Pella Corporation nearby, a large trucking and warehousing layer on the I-35/I-80 crossing
Des Moines sits at the crossing of I-35 and I-80, which is why so much national distribution touches it. Casey's General Stores is headquartered in Ankeny and is one of the largest convenience chains in the country. The manufacturing base is smaller than in the Iowa river towns but the warehousing and distribution layer around the interstate crossing has grown quickly.
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