Business and Economy
Des Moines has become a wonderful city to live, work and expand business in the last several years and includes a productive workforce and a wonderful quality of life.
Helping to meet the business needs of the city is the Office of Economic Development, dedicated to meeting business needs by focusing resources and implementing creative approaches to assure business success.
The leading industry in the city is insurance, with many headquartered here including the Principal Financial Group, Equitable of Iowa, Allied Insurance (Nationwide), ARAG Legal Insurance and American Republic Insurance Company.
Long known as the "Hartford of the West," Des Moines is the world's 3rd largest insurance center behind London and Hartford. As a center of financial and insurance services, other major corporations headquartered outside of Iowa have established a presence in the Des Moines Metro area including, Wells Fargo, ING Group and Electronic Data Systems. As a result, greater Des Moines seems well poised for continued growth. Forbes Magazine ranked Des Moines as the 4th best city to start a business, behind, Oklahoma City, Boston and Seattle.
Some of the largest companies in the area include Principal Life Insurance, Iowa Health Systems, Hy-Vee Food Stores, Nationwide Insurance, Firestone Tires and The Des Moines Register.
As of the 2000 census, there were 198,682 people in the city.
The median income for a household in the city was $38,408 and the median income for a family was $46,590.
Men had a median income of $31,712 versus $25,832 for women.