AI Income Risk · Real Estate

Iowa

ProofIndex score 41/100 (Moderate Risk) · medium confidence

ProofIndex score: 41/100 (Moderate Risk risk).

Moderate Risk is this area's band among covered United States markets, not an expected outcome. Confidence (medium) describes how complete and direct the input data is, not how accurate a prediction would be.

Scoring period 2026-Q3 · medium data confidence

Iowa (United States) shows moderate exposure in ProofIndex’s scoring, with a ProofIndex score of 41/100 (Moderate Risk). The biggest contributor is income concentration. This measures how concentrated local income is in higher-paid, AI-exposed work.

Key risk drivers

Income Concentration: 49/100
How concentrated local income is in higher-paid, AI-exposed work.
Employment Vulnerability: 29/100
How exposed local jobs are to AI automation, based on the area’s occupation mix.
Housing Leverage: 19/100
How leveraged local mortgage borrowers are, based on loan-to-value, debt-to-income, and price-to-income.
Resilience Factors: 9/100
Local economic buffers such as savings, benefits, and job diversity that can absorb an income shock.

Where this score comes from

Every ProofIndex pillar uses published statistics. Review the sources behind this area's score, when each was released, and its known limitations.

Modeled EVI limitation: US Employment Vulnerability (EVI) is modeled, not directly measured. It is inferred from ACS sector and education patterns rather than direct BLS OEWS occupation employment. Because EVI contributes 35% of the score, treat this component as directional.

Employment Vulnerability: US Census Bureau + ProofIndex model
Derived ACS occupation proxy · Proxy · State · vintage 2020-2024 ACS 5-year. Occupation exposure is inferred from sector and education signals, not direct OEWS occupation employment.
Income Concentration: US Census Bureau — ACS 5-year
ACS state indicators · Official statistics · State · vintage 2020-2024 ACS 5-year. Official survey data; state-level values can hide MSA-level concentration.
Housing Leverage: Zillow Research + FHFA + BLS LAUS + ProofIndex model
Derived US housing and vacancy pressure · Derived · State · vintage ACS 2020-2024; FHFA/Zillow/BLS through 2026. Home values and HPI momentum are market/official series; rental vacancy pressure is derived from LAUS unemployment and FHFA price momentum, not direct rental vacancy microdata.
Rental Market Exposure: Zillow Research + FHFA + BLS LAUS + ProofIndex model
Derived US housing and vacancy pressure · Derived · State · vintage ACS 2020-2024; FHFA/Zillow/BLS through 2026. Home values and HPI momentum are market/official series; rental vacancy pressure is derived from LAUS unemployment and FHFA price momentum, not direct rental vacancy microdata.
Resilience Factors: US Department of Labor ETA
US safety-net parameters · Official statistics · State · vintage 2026. Statutory and public program parameters; savings and absorption are still proxy estimates.

Frequently asked questions

Is Iowa at risk from AI job losses?

ProofIndex does not forecast job losses. It measures how exposed local incomes are: a higher score means more of the local wage base comes from work that AI is changing. On that measure, Iowa sits near the middle of the covered United States markets. It scores 41/100 (Moderate Risk) overall, and 29/100 on employment vulnerability, which measures how much local work overlaps with tasks AI can already do.

How exposed is the Iowa housing market to AI automation?

Iowa scores 41/100 (Moderate Risk) on ProofIndex, which blends how exposed local incomes are to AI with how leveraged the local housing market is. The largest contributor is income concentration at 49/100. This measures how concentrated local income is in higher-paid, AI-exposed work. Housing leverage scores 19/100, based on loan-to-value, debt-to-income, and price-to-income among local borrowers. Local resilience scores 9/100. Savings, benefits, and job diversity reduce the final score. Scores are normalized 0–100 within United States, so this compares Iowa with other United States markets. It cannot be compared directly with markets abroad.

Why is Iowa rated Moderate Risk?

Moderate Risk is the risk tier ProofIndex assigns to a composite score of 41/100. The composite weights employment vulnerability at 35%, income concentration at 25%, housing leverage at 25%, and subtracts local resilience at 15%. For Iowa the risk pillars rank income concentration 49/100, employment vulnerability 29/100, housing leverage 19/100. Confidence in the underlying data for this area is medium.

See the full Iowa report

Full pillar breakdowns, peer benchmarking, and data sources with confidence ratings.

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