Public Notice Rates & Promotional Materials
The INA has released public service ads for members to run in their newspapers, promoting public notices in newspapers and the iowapublicnotices.com website.
By running these ads, you can help your readers realize the importance of public notices and help make the public aware that Iowa newspapers have taken the initiative to develop a website allowing everyone to view notices of public interest archived for easy reference. There is no cost to access the information and local governments have not been charged any fees to have their notices posted.
Public notices are notifications to taxpayers and citizens, as established by state statutes or by order of a court. They are also sometimes referred to as “legal notices.”
Public notices must be actively disseminated to taxpayers and citizens who may be affected by the information contained in the notice. All government records are intended to be open and “available,” but only if people know where to search. The information in public notices is so essential to an informed citizenry that it needs to be published and made available where people will find it — even if they’re not necessarily searching for it.
2026-2027 Public Notice Rates
Iowa newspaper public notice advertising rates are updated each July 1.
Public notice rates are tied to the consumer price index as a result of a bill backed by the INA and passed by the Legislature in 2000. Since that time, rates have increased annually with only two decreases. The following language details how the rates are computed:
618.11 Fees for publication
The compensation, when not otherwise fixed, for the publication in a newspaper of any notice, order, citation, or other publication required or allowed by law shall be at a rate of thirty-four cents for one insertion and twenty-three cents for each subsequent insertion for each line of eight-point type two inches in length, or its equivalent. Beginning June 1, 2001, and each June 1 thereafter, the state printing administrator shall calculate a new rate for the following fiscal year as prescribed in this section, and shall publish this rate as a notice in the Iowa administrative bulletin prior to the first day of the following calendar month. The new rate shall be effective on the first day of the calendar month following its publication. The rate shall be calculated by applying the percentage change in the consumer price index for all urban consumers for the last available twelve-month period published in the federal register by the federal department of labor, bureau of labor statistics, to the existing rate as an increase or decrease in the rate rounded to the nearest one-tenth of a cent. The calculation and publication of the rate by the state printing administrator shall be exempt from the provisions of chapters 17A and 25B.
2026-2027 Public Notice Rates
Effective July 1, the public notice advertising rate will increase from 62.9 cents for a 12- pica wide line of eight-point type (or its equivalent) to 65.3 cents per line (44.1 cents per line for subsequent insertions). These rates should be charged for all public notices published on or after July 1, 2026. 2026 marks the twenty-third year in which public notice rates have increased (they decreased in 2009 and 2015). Public notice rates are tied to the consumer price index as a result of a bill backed by the INA and passed by the Legislature in 2000. New rate charts and law change updates are available below.
Questions on public notice rates? Contact the Iowa Newspaper Association at ina@inanews.com or 515-244-2145.