Run your numbers
Loaded with Iowa figures: the Heartland ERS 2025 cost budget, the NASS 2021–2025 average yield and the 2026 state cash rent. Swap in your own records. Nothing entered here leaves your browser.
What the assumptions produce
Required average price per bushel at the entered yield.
All entered per-acre costs combined.
Total cost across the entered acres.
Entered acres multiplied by expected yield.
Compare your result with the 2025 marketing-year Iowa price received.
What an acre of Iowa corn costs
ERS budgets by region, not state. 100% of Iowa's corn acres sit in the Heartland region, so that is the budget used here. Per-bushel figures divide by the 205.2 bu average yield.
| Line (2025) | $/acre | $/bu |
|---|---|---|
| OperatingSeed | $122 | $0.59 |
| OperatingFertilizer | $184 | $0.89 |
| OperatingChemicals | $50 | $0.24 |
| OperatingCustom services | $38 | $0.18 |
| OperatingFuel, lube & electricity | $26 | $0.12 |
| OperatingRepairs | $47 | $0.23 |
| OperatingInterest on operating capital | $9 | $0.04 |
| OverheadMachinery & equipment capital recovery | $173 | $0.84 |
| OverheadUnpaid (family) labor | $32 | $0.16 |
| OverheadHired labor | $4 | $0.02 |
| OverheadTaxes & insurance | $22 | $0.11 |
| OverheadGeneral farm overhead | $29 | $0.14 |
| LandCash rent (NASS 2026) | $271 | $1.32 |
| Total | $1,005 | $4.90 |
Looking ahead: ERS forecasts U.S. corn operating costs at $473/acre for 2026, 3.8% above the 2025 U.S. actual of $456.
How the floor moves with yield
The same $1,005 cost stack spread over different yields. A short crop raises the floor even when nothing else changes.
| Yield case | bu/acre | Full cost | Cash cost | $/acre at $4.10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20% short | 164.2 | $6.12 | $4.54 | −$332 |
| 10% short | 184.7 | $5.44 | $4.04 | −$248 |
| 2021–2025 average | 205.2 | $4.90 | $3.63 | −$164 |
| 10% above | 225.7 | $4.45 | $3.30 | −$79 |
| 2025 final | 210 | $4.79 | $3.55 | −$144 |
| 2026 NASS Oct forecast | 219 | $4.59 | $3.41 | −$107 |
Iowa corn yield and price history
| Year | Yield, bu/acre | Price received | Planted acres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 210 | $4.10 | 13,550,000 |
| 2024 | 211 | $4.25 | 12,900,000 |
| 2023 | 201 | $4.61 | 13,100,000 |
| 2022 | 200 | $6.62 | 12,900,000 |
| 2021 | 204 | $6.10 | 12,900,000 |
| 2020 | 177 | $4.64 | 13,600,000 |
| 2019 | 198 | $3.50 | 13,400,000 |
| 2018 | 196 | $3.59 | 13,200,000 |
| 2017 | 202 | $3.31 | 13,300,000 |
| 2016 | 203 | $3.30 | 13,900,000 |
2026 is still a forecast: NASS's Oct estimate is 219 bu/acre. Final yields come with the annual summary in January.
Price received is the NASS marketing-year average for the state; — = not yet published.
Corn break-even, top 15 states
Lowest full-cost floor first. Iowa ranks #4.
- 1Illinois$4.72
- 2Nebraska$4.74
- 3Indiana$4.88
- 4Iowa$4.90
- 5Ohio$4.91
- 6Minnesota$5.04
- 7Wisconsin$5.08
- 8Kentucky$5.14
- 9Michigan$5.17
- 10South Dakota$5.27
- 11Missouri$5.30
- 12North Dakota$5.38
- 13Kansas$5.61
- 14Colorado$5.88
- 15Texas$5.89
Other Iowa crops
Reporting on corn and farm debt
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Where these numbers come from
- Costs per acre come from the USDA ERS Commodity Costs and Returns accounts for 2025, the latest year with actual (not forecast) figures. ERS reports by Farm Resource Region, not by state. Each state uses the region that holds at least half of its planted acres for that crop, measured from NASS county acreage and the ERS county-to-region file. If no region with an ERS budget clears half, we use the U.S. average and say so.
- Overhead is ERS's allocated overhead minus its land charge: machinery and equipment capital recovery, unpaid family labor, hired labor, taxes and insurance, and general farm overhead. The cash-cost floor keeps only operating costs and rent and drops all of overhead: roughly what it takes to pay this year's bills, not to replace the machinery.
- Land is the NASS state average cash rent for cropland from the Cash Rents Survey, in place of ERS's regional land charge. Owned ground carries an opportunity cost too, so we charge rent either way.
- Yield is the five-year average of NASS final state yields from Quick Stats. NASS reports yield per harvested acre and ERS reports costs per planted acre, so where acres get abandoned (dryland wheat especially) the real floor sits higher than shown. Current-year NASS forecasts are shown for context and are not used in the averages.
- Price is the NASS marketing-year average price received in the state. It is what farmers were paid on average, not a forecast and not your local basis.
- A state average is not your farm. Use your own yields, inputs and rent in the calculator. This is a planning estimate, not financial, lending or marketing advice.
Data last refreshed October 9, 2026.