Harrison County, Iowa

Harrison County is a county in Iowa, United States, about 25 miles north of Council Bluffs
along the Missouri River. It had a population of 14,582 at the 2020 census, an estimated 14,623
by 2025, and covers 697 square miles (1,810 km2) centred near 41°41′N 95°49′W.

Logan is the county seat; its postal code is 51546. The county holds 10 incorporated cities
and towns and several smaller unincorporated communities across 20 townships, and it runs on
Central Time.

Towns & Villages in Harrison County

Harrison County has 10 incorporated cities and towns plus a handful of unincorporated
crossroads and two census-designated places. CDP stands for census designated place; Unincorp.
covers hamlets and crossroads with no local government of their own.

The old list on this page also carried Crisp, Echo, Euclid, Findley, Magill, Orton and
Willett as separate places. Those are unverified rail-siding or farmstead names with no current
population, ZIP, or township record traceable to a Census or postal source, so they have been
dropped rather than repeated on a guess. Township assignments above are shown only where the
place and township share the same name — a reliable pairing in Iowa’s naming
convention — and left blank elsewhere rather than guessed.

Townships

Harrison County has 20 civil townships. No county-subdivision-level 2020 population figures
were available to verify a per-township count, so this table lists each township’s principal
settlement only rather than repeat a guessed number.

ZIP Codes

• 51546 — Logan (the county seat)
• 51555 — Missouri Valley (the county’s most populous ZIP)
• 51579 — Woodbine
• 51529 — Dunlap
• 51557 — Mondamin
• 51563 — Persia
• 51564 — Pisgah
• 51545 — Little Sioux (also serves River Sioux)
• 51556 — Modale
• 51550 — Magnolia

California Junction, Beebeetown, Calhoun, Hard Scratch, Orson and Yorkshire have no ZIP code
of their own; mail there is delivered under the nearest incorporated town’s code.

Geography

Harrison County sits in west-central Iowa on the Missouri River, inside the Loess Hills, a
belt of wind-deposited silt bluffs that runs the length of western Iowa. Murray Hill, in the
county, is one of the tallest points in the Loess Hills, rising more than 350 feet above the
adjacent Missouri River floodplain — well above the roughly 200-foot rise typical of the
hills elsewhere. Part of the Loess Hills State Forest, a four-unit, 10,600-acre tract spanning
Harrison and Monona counties, lies within the county. Of the county’s 697 square miles, 4.8
square miles are water, about 0.7 percent, concentrated along the Missouri River bottomland on
the county’s western edge. DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, best known for the recovered
1865 steamboat Bertrand and its museum collection of more than 500,000 excavated artifacts,
straddles the Missouri River bottoms shared by Harrison and Pottawattamie counties.

Monona County lies to the north, Crawford County to the northeast, Shelby County to the east,
and Pottawattamie County to the south. Washington County, Nebraska and Burt County, Nebraska lie
across the Missouri River to the southwest and northwest. Monona County, Crawford County, Shelby County and Pottawattamie County all border
Harrison directly; the two Nebraska counties do not have posts on this site.

Demographics

Harrison County had a population of 14,582 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts
the county near 14,623 residents. Missouri Valley and Woodbine are the two largest communities,
together holding roughly 30 percent of the county’s population. Median household income
runs about $79,535 (2024, Data USA), above Iowa’s statewide figure of $71,433 (2023 ACS).
Population density works out to roughly 21 people per square mile of land, low even by rural
Iowa standards, reflecting the county’s mostly agricultural land use outside its Missouri
Valley-to-Logan corridor.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance is the county’s largest employment sector, with about
1,190 workers, followed by manufacturing at 840 and educational services at 756. Missouri
Valley’s economy grew up around railroads: the Sioux City and Pacific Railroad and later
the Chicago and North Western Railway both ran repair shops and switching yards through town,
and by 1896 the city saw 25 passenger trains a day on three lines. Logan, the county seat,
centers on the Harrison County Courthouse and county government offices. Farming, mainly corn
and soybeans on the county’s bottomland and rolling upland, remains the dominant land use
outside the towns.

History

Iowa’s legislature organized Harrison County in 1851 and named it for William Henry
Harrison, the ninth U.S. president. Missouri Valley began in 1856 as a settlement called
St. John’s at the junction of three planned railroad lines; after an 1858 banking panic
scattered its early residents, the site was replatted as New St. Johns and then renamed Missouri
Valley for the river valley it sits in. The Chicago and North Western Railway’s 1867
extension turned both Missouri Valley and Logan, the county seat, into rail towns almost
overnight; Logan was incorporated in 1876 and named for Union Army general John A. Logan.

Getting There

Interstate 29 runs along the county’s western edge, and U.S. Route 30 crosses the
county through Missouri Valley and Logan on its way east toward Denison. Iowa Highways 37, 44,
127, 183 and 191 also serve the county.

• Council Bluffs — about 25 miles south
• Omaha, Nebraska — about 30 miles southwest
• Denison — about 30 miles east
• Sioux City — about 55 miles north

Eppley Airfield in Omaha, roughly 30 miles southwest of Missouri Valley, is the nearest major
commercial airport. Amtrak does not stop in Harrison County; the nearest station is in Omaha.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Harrison County located?
It sits in west-central Iowa on the Missouri River, within the Loess Hills, about 25 miles north
of Council Bluffs and 30 miles northeast of Omaha, Nebraska.

What is the population of Harrison County?
14,582 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 14,623.

How big is Harrison County?
697 square miles (1,810 km2) of land, plus 4.8 square miles of water.

What is the county seat of Harrison County?
Logan is the county seat; Missouri Valley is the county’s largest city.

How many towns and cities are in Harrison County?
Ten incorporated cities and towns — Missouri Valley, Woodbine, Logan, Dunlap, Persia,
Pisgah, Modale, Magnolia, Little Sioux and Mondamin — plus the California Junction and
River Sioux census-designated places and several unincorporated hamlets.

What ZIP codes does Harrison County use?
51546 for Logan, 51555 for Missouri Valley, 51579 for Woodbine, 51529 for Dunlap, 51557 for
Mondamin, 51563 for Persia, 51564 for Pisgah, 51545 for Little Sioux, 51556 for Modale and 51550
for Magnolia.

What is Harrison County known for?
The Loess Hills, including Murray Hill near Missouri Valley, and DeSoto National Wildlife
Refuge, home to the recovered 1865 steamboat Bertrand.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Iowa.