Title Insurance · Iowa
State programme, published feeIowa Title Insurance Rates (2026): The Published Schedule
Iowa is the one state with no private title insurance market at all. A state programme issues the coverage at a published flat fee, so there is nothing to quote and nothing to shop — the figures below are the fee schedule itself.
Financed, at the state median
$175
Owner's + lender's policy on a $211,400 purchase with a $169,120 loan, per the published scheduleWhy Iowa has a rate you can look up
Iowa is on this list for a different reason from Texas and Florida: it has no private title insurance market at all. A state programme, Iowa Title Guaranty, issues title certificates instead, and it publishes a flat fee. That is a published schedule from the state body that sets it — but it is a guaranty programme rather than a regulator, and it publishes no effective date for the fee, both of which are stated here rather than glossed.
The schedule on this page is published by Iowa Title Guaranty (Iowa Economic Development & Finance Authority) — a state programme, not an insurance regulator. It is not an underwriter's rate card and not an industry average. Iowa Title Guaranty publishes no effective or revision date for this fee schedule — schedule read 2026-08-31 · lender fee from Urban Institute, published January 7, 2025.
The Iowa rate schedule
This is the table itself. Every row is read from the published schedule and is what the lookup below evaluates — the table and the tool cannot disagree, because the tool reads this data rather than a copy of it.
| Situation | Charge |
|---|---|
| Owner coverage up to $750,000, lender also covered at the same closing | $0 — Iowa Title Guaranty provides the owner coverage free |
| Owner coverage up to $750,000, cash purchase (no lender certificate) | $175 flat |
| Lender certificate | $175 fixed — and this one figure is the Urban Institute's (published January 7, 2025), not ITG's own; ITG's lender page publishes no price |
| Owner coverage above $750,000 | Not priced here — see below |
The lender's policy
Iowa inverts the usual arithmetic: because the free owner-coverage rule only fires when the lender obtains a certificate at the same closing, financing makes the OWNER'S side cheaper rather than more expensive. A cash buyer pays the flat fee; a financed buyer does not.
What this schedule does not cover
Above $750,000 of owner coverage, ITG states only "$1 per $1,000" without saying whether that applies to the excess or to the whole amount. Two readings, no tie-breaker on the page, so this page declines to pick one and sends you to ITG.
Look up your own purchase
Enter your purchase price and, if you are financing, your loan amount. The result is the schedule applied to your numbers — not an estimate and not a range. Where the schedule does not cover an input, the tool says so rather than guessing.
Educational calculators — always consult a licensed professional before making financial decisions.
The owner's policy is written for this amount. Pre-filled with Iowa's median home price.
This changes which policies are issued — and in Iowa it changes who pays for which one.
Both an owner's and a lender's policy are issued, usually at the simultaneous-issue rate.
The lender's policy is written for this amount.
Title insurance premium at closing in Iowa
$175
One-time premium paid at closing. Search, exam, endorsement and settlement fees are separate and are not part of this figure.
What this figure does and does not say
- Iowa has no private title insurance market. Because your lender obtains a certificate at the same closing, Iowa Title Guaranty provides owner coverage up to $750,000 free — the $175 is the lender certificate.
- The $175 lender certificate fee is the Urban Institute's figure (published January 7, 2025), not Iowa Title Guaranty's own published price — ITG's lender page does not publish one. The owner-coverage figures beside it are ITG's own.
Schedule: Iowa Title Guaranty (Iowa Economic Development & Finance Authority) owner coverage schedule; lender fee per Urban Institute — Iowa Title Guaranty publishes no effective or revision date for this fee schedule — schedule read 2026-08-31 · lender fee from Urban Institute, published January 7, 2025
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Why there is no page like this for most states
Every other state and the District of Columbia are file-and-use: insurers file their own rates with the state and there is no single schedule to look up. There is no equivalent page for them, and there should not be — a state page whose central figure was a national average dressed up as a local rate would be worse than no page. In a file-and-use state the real answer is two quotes from two local title companies, and the spread between them is often large.
The one state we wanted to include and could not
New Mexico sets one mandatory rate, but its basic-premium bracket schedule is adopted by order of the Superintendent of Insurance and published as an appendix we could not retrieve from OSI. We will not approximate a promulgated rate, so New Mexico is shown as a range here — which understates how precisely knowable the New Mexico answer is once you have the schedule in front of you. Ask a New Mexico title company for the current basic premium rate table.
If your state is not Texas, Florida, Iowa, our national title insurance guide explains what a file-and-use state means for you and what the observed national spread is — with the warning that a national spread is not your state's rate, which is precisely why these three pages exist and forty-eight do not.
Iowa Title and Settlement Rules
- abstract/attorney opinion system
- Iowa uses an abstract-and-attorney-opinion title system: before Iowa Title Guaranty issues a title guaranty, the division requires an abstract of title brought up to date and certified by a participating abstractor, plus a title opinion from a participating attorney (Iowa Code §16.91(6)). The attorney rendering the opinion may issue the title guaranty certificate (§16.91(7)). (Iowa Legislature, retrieved 2026-09-14)
- title agent licensing
- Private title insurance is not permitted in Iowa: the insurance commissioner's power to approve additional kinds of insurance expressly excludes title insurance or insurance against loss by reason of defective title (Iowa Code §515.48(10)). Title coverage is instead provided by the state's Iowa Title Guaranty division of the Iowa Finance Authority. (Iowa Legislature, retrieved 2026-09-14)
- title agent licensing
- Iowa Title Guaranty (ITG) is operated by the Iowa Finance Authority through its title guaranty division, which offers guaranties of real property titles, fixes the charge at a self-sustaining level, and deposits surplus into the housing assistance fund. Except for consultation on the contract form, the program is not regulated by the insurance division (Iowa Code §16.91(1), (3)). ITG describes itself as the only entity authorized to issue title coverage in Iowa. (Iowa Legislature, retrieved 2026-09-14)
- title agent licensing
- Participating abstractors and attorneys must follow division rules, may be charged an annual participation fee, must maintain liability coverage, and each participating abstractor must own or lease an up-to-date abstract title plant with tract indices for each county served going back at least forty years (Iowa Code §16.91(4)-(5)). (Iowa Legislature, retrieved 2026-09-14)
- endorsement rates
- ITG residential owner coverage: flat $175.00 for coverage up to $750,000; coverage over $750,000 is $1 per $1,000. Residential owner coverage up to $750,000 is free if the lender simultaneously obtains ITG lender coverage. Owner certificates do not expire while the owner's interest is unchanged and survive a refinance. (Iowa Economic Development & Finance Authority (Iowa Finance Authority) — Iowa Title Guaranty, retrieved 2026-09-14)
- closing/settlement agent rules
- ITG may issue closing protection letters (only where it has committed to issue an owner or lender certificate) indemnifying against loss of settlement funds from theft by, or failure to follow written closing instructions by, the division's named participating attorney, abstractor or closer; coverage cannot exceed the commitment/guaranty amount (Iowa Code §16.93). (Iowa Legislature, retrieved 2026-09-14)
- deed tax / doc stamps
- Iowa real estate transfer tax: 80 cents for each $500 (or fractional part) of consideration in excess of $500, when there is consideration and the property's value exceeds $500; no tax when there is no consideration or the deed is corrective. A declaration of value signed by a seller or buyer (or agent) must accompany the deed for recording (Iowa Code §428A.1). (Iowa Legislature, retrieved 2026-09-14)
- closing/settlement agent rules
- ITG's mortgage release certificate program: the division may execute and record a certificate of release of a paid-off mortgage on application by a lender, licensed real estate broker, licensed attorney, participating abstractor or licensed closing agent (closing agents being subject to Iowa Code ch. 535B licensing) (Iowa Code §16.92). (Iowa Legislature, retrieved 2026-09-14)
Taxes Recorded Alongside the Title Policy at the Iowa Median Price
Real Estate Transfer Tax
Iowa charges $0.80 per $500 of the sale price above the first $500 (about 0.16%), paid to the county recorder when the deed is recorded. (Iowa Code § 428A.1). (Iowa Legislature, retrieved 2026-09-14) Under that schedule a $211,400 sale owes $338.
Recording fees
Statewide (Iowa Code § 331.604): $5 per page or fraction of a page, plus $1 per recorded transaction for the records management fund and $1 per recorded transaction for the county land record information system. (Iowa Legislature, retrieved 2026-09-14)
Iowa title insurance questions
How much is title insurance in Iowa?
On a $211,400 purchase with a $169,120 mortgage — Iowa's median home price at 80% financing — the title policies come to $175: Included for the owner's policy and $175 for the lender's. That is the premium only. Title search and exam, endorsements, settlement and recording fees are separate, and unlike the premium they are not fixed by the schedule.
Can I shop around for cheaper title insurance in Iowa?
There is nothing to shop, because there is no private title insurance market in Iowa at all. Iowa Title Guaranty, a state programme, issues title certificates instead, at the published fee. The closing and search charges a closing agent adds on top are still worth comparing.
Who pays for title insurance in Iowa?
The schedule sets the rate; it does not decide who writes the cheque. That is a term of the purchase contract and it varies by county and by local custom even within one state — in some Iowa markets the seller customarily pays the owner's policy, in others the buyer does, and the lender's policy is almost always the buyer's. Because it is contractual rather than regulated, it is negotiable in a way the premium is not. Check the line on your purchase agreement before you assume.
Is title insurance an annual premium?
No. Both policies are a one-time premium paid at closing, and the owner's policy lasts as long as you hold title. That is why it does not appear in your monthly escrow the way homeowners insurance and property tax do. If you refinance, a new lender's policy is usually required — many schedules discount that as a reissue rate, so ask for it by name.
Does every state publish a title insurance rate like Iowa does?
No, and that is unusual rather than normal. Only a handful of states publish a schedule an outsider can look up: Texas, Florida, Iowa are the states RealCostIQ holds a schedule for, read directly from the issuing body. Every other state and the District of Columbia is file-and-use — insurers file their own rates and there is no single number. New Mexico is the frustrating middle case: it does set one mandatory rate, but its bracket schedule is adopted by order of the Superintendent of Insurance and published as an appendix we could not retrieve, so we will not print a New Mexico figure.
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