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County · code 19035

Cherokee CountyIowa

Cherokee County is a county in Iowa with its county seat in Cherokee. It was created on January 15, 1851, from Polk County and named after the Cherokee.

  • Founded1851
  • County seatCherokee
  • Named forCherokee
  • Land area577 sq mi + 0.2 sq mi water
  • Population11,658 2020 Census
  • Parcels mapped16,866 checked 15 October 2026
Open the free map Click any parcel in Cherokee County: acreage, parcel id, address and who publishes the map. No sign-in.

Updated

O'BrienIdaBuena VistaWoodburyPlymouth Cherokee Census outline · seat marked

Where it is

Cherokee on the map of Iowa

Iowa has 99 counties and county equivalents, each with its own records office. Shapes with a page are links.

Adair CountyAdams CountyAllamakee CountyAppanoose CountyAudubon CountyBenton CountyBlack Hawk CountyBoone CountyBremer CountyBuchanan CountyBuena Vista CountyButler CountyCalhoun CountyCarroll CountyCass CountyCedar CountyCerro Gordo CountyChickasaw CountyClarke CountyClay CountyClayton CountyClinton CountyCrawford CountyDallas CountyDavis CountyDecatur CountyDelaware CountyDes Moines CountyDickinson CountyDubuque CountyEmmet CountyFayette CountyFloyd CountyFranklin CountyFremont CountyGreene CountyGrundy CountyGuthrie CountyHamilton CountyHancock CountyHardin CountyHarrison CountyHenry CountyHoward CountyHumboldt CountyIda CountyIowa CountyJackson CountyJasper CountyJefferson CountyJohnson CountyJones CountyKeokuk CountyKossuth CountyLee CountyLinn CountyLouisa CountyLucas CountyLyon CountyMadison CountyMahaska CountyMarion CountyMarshall CountyMills CountyMitchell CountyMonona CountyMonroe CountyMontgomery CountyMuscatine CountyO'Brien CountyOsceola CountyPage CountyPalo Alto CountyPlymouth CountyPocahontas CountyPolk CountyPottawattamie CountyPoweshiek CountyRinggold CountySac CountyScott CountyShelby CountySioux CountyStory CountyTama CountyTaylor CountyUnion CountyVan Buren CountyWapello CountyWarren CountyWashington CountyWayne CountyWebster CountyWinnebago CountyWinneshiek CountyWoodbury CountyWorth CountyWright CountyCherokee County Cherokee
Counties of Iowa · Cherokee highlighted

History

Formed in 1851 from Polk County

An old deed may name a county that no longer exists, or a boundary that has since moved.

Cherokee County was created from Non-County Area 9 attached to Polk County, but remained unorganized and unattached at first. The county was attached to Woodbury County in 1853 for revenue, election, and judicial purposes, then fully organized and detached in 1858. Between 1864 and 1868, Cherokee County was attached to Clay County for judicial purposes, and O'Brien County was attached to Cherokee for the same reason before O'Brien was fully organized and detached in 1870.

Boundary changes from the Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

  1. 1851
    Cherokee County created Cherokee created from Non-County Area 9 attached to Polk; Cherokee not fully organized, not attached.
    from Polk
    · Iowa Acts 1850-1851, ch. 9, sec. 31/pp. 34-35
  2. 1853
    Changed Cherokee attached to Woodbury "for revenue, election, and judicial purposes".
    Woodbury
    · Iowa Acts 1852-1853, ch. 8, sec. 14/p. 24
  3. 1858
    Changed Cherokee fully organized, detached from Woodbury.
    Woodbury
    · Swisher, "Organization of Counties," 574
  4. 1864
    Changed Cherokee attached to Clay "for judicial purposes."
    Clay
    · Iowa Acts 1864, ch. 47, secs. 2, 9/pp. 47-49
  5. 1868
    Changed Cherokee fully organized, detached from Clay; O'Brien detached from Clay, attached to Cherokee "for judicial purposes".
    ClayO'Brien
    · Iowa Acts 1868, ch. 73, secs. 2, 8/pp. 99-100
  6. 1870
    Changed O'Brien fully organized, detached from Cherokee when judicial attachments of 7 April 1868 were repealed.
    O'Brien
    · Iowa Acts 1870, ch. 2, secs. 3-4/pp. 3-4

Land and parcels

What the maps cover in Cherokee

Who publishes each layer, how good it is, and when we last checked.

Official
from the office that keeps the record
Good enough
a reliable statewide or national copy
Fallback
a guide only; check the official record
Missing
nothing public found yet

People and land

Cherokee by the Census

Population
11,658 2020 Census count
Housing units
5,558 2020 Census count
Land area
577 square miles
Water area
0.2 square miles
People per sq mi
20 population ÷ land area

Source: US Census Bureau, 2020 Census; US Census Bureau, 2020 Gazetteer Files. Not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.

Rules and offices

Who to ask before you build, dig or sell

Official county pages only. We link to them; we do not copy them, because they change.

Inside a city or town, permits usually come from that city rather than the county.

Permits

Zoning and code

County government

See your own lot on these maps

Open Cherokee County on Parcel Chart's free map and click your parcel. Save it with a free account; the full record of your place (site map, projects, documents) is Pro, in early access.

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Questions

Common questions about Cherokee County

When was Cherokee County founded?
Cherokee County was founded in 1851, formed from Polk County, and named after Cherokee.
What is the county seat of Cherokee County?
The county seat of Cherokee County is Cherokee.
Is there an online parcel map for Cherokee County?
Yes. Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (statewide parcels, mirrored by the University of Iowa) publishes a parcel map of 16,866 parcels, rated fallback here. You can click any parcel on it in Parcel Chart's free map, no sign-in needed.
Has Cherokee County's boundary or name changed?
Cherokee County was created in 1851 from Polk County. Since then the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries records 5 later changes, chiefly involving Clay County, O'Brien County and Woodbury County.
Who issues building permits in Cherokee County?
The county's page on building permits: Permits - Septic. Inside a city or town, ask that city first.
Is my lot in a flood zone?
We do not have flood maps for Cherokee County yet. Look up the address on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center, which shows the effective flood map for any lot.

Nearby

Counties next door