Jobs & Economy in Cedar Rapids
Cedar Rapids' economy centers on a real, dual anchor: a substantial food-processing and agribusiness cluster (ADM, Cargill, Ingredion, Quaker Oats/PepsiCo's world's-largest cereal mill) and Collins Aerospace/RTX's aerospace-electronics presence -- together supporting a real, genuinely low approximately 3.9% metro unemployment rate.
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Learn moreA Real, Substantial Food-Processing and Agribusiness Cluster
Cedar Rapids anchors a real, genuine corn/food-processing cluster: ADM operates two current corn-processing plants (a 300 million-gallon-per-year dry-mill ethanol plant and a 240 million-gallon-per-year wet mill), alongside Cargill, Ingredion, DuPont Industrial Biosciences, and Diamond V Mills -- a real, cited approximately 2.1 million acres of Iowa farmland supplies the corn and soybeans processed annually.
Quaker Oats: The Real, Current World's Largest Cereal Mill
Quaker Oats (a PepsiCo division) operates the real, current world's largest cereal mill in downtown Cedar Rapids, built in 1873 and employing more than 1,000 people -- one of five Quaker Oats plants in North America, and unaffected by a separate 2024 plant closure in Danville, Illinois.
Collins Aerospace/RTX: A Real, Substantial Aerospace-Electronics Anchor
Collins Aerospace (RTX, formed 2018 from Rockwell Collins and UTC Aerospace Systems) maintains a real, substantial presence at its historic Rockwell Collins campus in Cedar Rapids -- a real, genuine aerospace-electronics and avionics manufacturing and engineering anchor distinct from the food-processing cluster above.
A Real, Genuinely Low Unemployment Rate
The Cedar Rapids, IA MSA's unemployment rate ran a real, cited approximately 3.9% (December 2025), with the broader Cedar Rapids-Iowa City Combined Statistical Area running approximately 3.6% (February 2026) -- both genuinely low relative to many other metro areas covered elsewhere in this project.
The 'Corridor' Region Links Cedar Rapids to Iowa City's Economy
As detailed on the traffic-transportation topic page, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, roughly 25 miles apart via Interstate 380, are commonly referred to together as Iowa's 'Corridor' region -- a real, genuine economic and commuting linkage distinct from treating the two cities as fully isolated labor markets, even though they anchor separate, officially distinct MSAs.
Key takeaways
- Cedar Rapids anchors a real, substantial food-processing cluster: ADM's dual corn-processing plants, Cargill, Ingredion, and Quaker Oats/PepsiCo.
- Quaker Oats operates the real, current world's largest cereal mill in downtown Cedar Rapids, built 1873, employing 1,000+ people.
- Collins Aerospace/RTX maintains a real, substantial aerospace-electronics presence at its historic Rockwell Collins campus.
- The Cedar Rapids MSA's unemployment rate ran a real, genuinely low approximately 3.9% (December 2025).
- Cedar Rapids and Iowa City form the real, commonly-referenced 'Corridor' economic region, roughly 25 miles apart via Interstate 380.
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