Compare ten reported cargo declarations within the same state census population. Categories overlap and do not identify equipment types.
FMCSA census source published 2026-09-13 12:46 UTC. Calculations cover present records with a reported U.S. physical address in the 50 states, including inactive and other census entities.
Largest declaration among the ten categories
General freight has the most declarations in this comparison: 22,993 records, or 39.7% of the 57,873 state records. This comparison covers ten selected categories, not every cargo flag in the source.
A carrier can declare several types of goods. Each percentage uses all state census records as its denominator, so adding category percentages double-counts records and does not produce a market share. A blank flag is not proof that a company never transports the goods. Category reporting is separate from operating authority and insurance filings.
How to use the national comparison
Compare the same category across the state and 50-state columns to describe how frequently it is declared in these populations. A higher share does not prove demand, specialization, equipment availability or a commercially attractive lane. Confirm those questions with your own operational evidence before using the report for sourcing decisions.
Reproduce the calculation
Use present census records with a U.S. physical address, select the named state, and count each of the ten cargo flags whose trimmed uppercase value is X. Divide each count by the full state population. Repeat across the 50 states for the comparison column. Flags are counted independently; no attempt is made to assign an exclusive primary cargo.
Which declarations differ most from the national share?
The most common category and the category most different from the national population need not be the same. The comparison below subtracts each category’s 50-state share from its Iowa share, using all census records in each population as the denominator.
Cargo declaration differences from the 50-state population
Reported cargo
Iowa share
50-state share
Difference
Dry bulk commodities
11.6%
7.3%
+4.3 percentage points
Machinery and large objects
17.5%
14.2%
+3.3 percentage points
Refrigerated food
8.4%
7.5%
+0.9 percentage points
Metal sheets, coils and rolls
8.7%
8.8%
-0.1 percentage points
Fresh produce
6.7%
8.2%
-1.5 percentage points
Intermodal containers
1.9%
3.8%
-2.0 percentage points
Household goods
3.9%
6.1%
-2.2 percentage points
Logs, poles, beams and lumber
9.1%
11.6%
-2.5 percentage points
Building materials
22.2%
25.1%
-2.9 percentage points
General freight
39.7%
50.9%
-11.2 percentage points
Dry bulk commodities has the largest signed difference in this comparison, while General freight has the smallest. A positive difference means the category is declared more frequently within this state’s census population. It does not establish greater demand, revenue, specialization or equipment availability.
The national share is calculated by adding declaration counts across all 50 states and dividing by their combined record count. It is not an unweighted average of state percentages. A state with fewer records therefore does not have the same influence on the national result as a much larger state.
Work through one category calculation
General freight appears on 22,993 of 57,873 Iowa records. Divide 22,993 by 57,873 and multiply by 100 to obtain 39.7%. A carrier that also declares another cargo remains in this category’s numerator; its other declaration does not remove or reassign it.
For a sourcing project, use this count to frame the size of the reported pool, then open individual records and confirm the actual goods and equipment requirements. Do not multiply the share by a freight-volume estimate and describe the result as observed shipments. This dataset counts declarations by entities, not movements of freight.
City context within Iowa
The site publishes 5 selected city directories in this state. Together they contain 7,296 census records, or 12.6% of the state total. The table shows the eight largest selected city populations where available. It is not a complete list of municipalities or a measure of freight moving through each city.
City names follow the reported physical address. Spelling variants remain separate, and records outside these selected city names remain in the state denominator. A reported office location does not describe the lanes served by the company. Use the city links to examine company records rather than assuming that a large local count means immediate availability.
Using this report in a broker research brief
Choose the figure that answers your question and keep its source date, geography and denominator beside it. If you compare another state or a later report, use the same definitions. Keep percentage-point differences separate from changes in the number of records.
A useful brief records the question, selected table, calculation and the carrier-level checks that follow. For example, a high share of smaller reported fleets can motivate a review of individual equipment availability; it does not establish that those fleets lack capacity. Keep confirmed operational answers separate from the statistical description.
The CSV download includes the tables on this page. Retain the source notes when moving the figures into a spreadsheet or presentation, and label any additional filtering or calculations you apply. This lets a colleague distinguish the published figures from your own analysis.
How small fleets compare with the national share
Records reporting 1–5 power units account for 80.1% of Iowa records, compared with 79.2% across the 50 states: 0.9 percentage points above the national share. The denominator includes zero, missing and inactive records.
This is a single published snapshot. We do not infer growth or decline without comparable historical observations.
Downloads include this page URL, source notes and table labels. Cargo categories overlap; do not sum them as distinct carriers.