No particular theme here, just some random pieces. All links are to PDF maps and district descriptions are approximations.
- 55 House districts are smaller than the basic “4×4” county (572 square miles).
- So are 19 Senate districts.
- Twelve House districts don’t contain at least part of a county seat.
- Thirteen House districts take up the bulk of Des Moines and its suburbs. In the 1980s, only 10½ were needed.
- Burlington, Clinton, and Mason City all were slightly larger than a House district in the 1980s but now comfortably fit into one. Dubuque was slightly larger than two but now fits in two.
- Ankeny, Clive, Marion, and Urbandale, on the other hand, now need to be split up.
- Four House districts do not have a high school: 33 (southeast Des Moines), 45 (Milford/Grant/Washington townships in Story County plus Ames east of Duff Avenue and south of Lincoln Way), 86 (south Iowa City plus Hills), and 93 (southeast Davenport/west Bettendorf).
- House District 24 (Page, Ringgold, Taylor, southern Montgomery counties) has 10 high schools.
- House District 76 (Poweshiek and most of Iowa counties) has 11 Casey’s.
- Two House districts have 10 Casey’s: 7 (Emmet, Winnebago, northern Kossuth counties plus Algona) and 21 (Adams, Union, ¾ of Cass, far eastern Pottawattamie counties).
- House districts 15 (northwest Council Bluffs), 34 (Des Moines south of I-235, east of Fleur Drive, and west of Union Avenue/Southeast 5th Street and the Des Moines River), and 35 (north-central Des Moines) are the only ones with more McDonald’s (1, 3, and 2, respectively) than Casey’s (0).
- Ideal House district population: 30,464; double it for the Senate
- Smallest House districts: 35 followed by 36 (northwest Des Moines), making Senate 18 the smallest over there.
- Three of the five smallest Senate districts are in Des Moines plus Pleasant Hill.
- Largest House districts: 17 (Ida, Monona, western Harrison, southeast Woodbury counties) followed by 80 (Appanoose, western Mahaska, Monroe, and northwestern Wapello counties)
- Largest Senate districts: 9 (Ida, Harrison, Shelby, western Crawford, southeastern Woodbury counties) followed by 12 (Fremont, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Ringgold, and Taylor counties)
- Largest House district population in 2010: 72 (Tama County, Marshall County west and south of Marshalltown, and La Porte City), 299 above ideal
- Smallest House district population in 2010: 29 (most of Jasper County), 288 below ideal