Metro by metro
The leading pharmacy chains in every Iowa metro area
Tracked pharmacy chains ranked by consumer spend in each metro area, Q4 2025–Q3 2026. Walgreens leads in all 7 metro areas with enough data. Against their share in Iowa as a whole, Walgreens stands out in 3 metro areas, CVS Pharmacy in 3 metro areas, and NuCara in 1 metro area.
By tracked consumer spend, Q4 2025–Q3 2026
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Walgreens
Relative #1 in 3 metro areas
Des Moines, IA 1.1× · Iowa City, IA 1× · Omaha, NE-IA (IA part) 1.3×
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CVS Pharmacy
Relative #1 in 3 metro areas
Cedar Rapids, IA 2.1× · Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA 1.5× · Davenport, IA (IA part) 1.3×
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NuCara
Relative #1 in Ames, IA, 9× its share in Iowa
Not enough tracked stores: Dubuque, IA · Sioux City, IA-NE-SD (IA part)
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Walgreens
#1 in all 7 metro areas
Not enough tracked stores: Dubuque, IA · Sioux City, IA-NE-SD (IA part)
A metro area shows a ranking once it has at least 2 tracked pharmacy chains and 10 tracked stores. Relative to Iowa compares a chain's share of the metro area's spend with its share in Iowa as a whole. It ranks the 7 biggest chains in Iowa and the chains that lead a metro area by spend, wherever a chain has at least 5% of the metro area's spend and 3 stores there. Metro areas are the Census Bureau's metropolitan statistical areas; the rest of Iowa is light gray. A metro area crossing the state line counts only its stores in Iowa. Colors match the store map; other tracked chains are gray.
Growth ranking
Fastest-growing tracked pharmacy chains
Ranked by year-over-year growth of share of tracked local spend. Arrows show movement in the rankings since last year. Each dot in the chart is one tracked chain: bigger market position to the right, faster growth higher up, more tracked stores in a bigger dot. Colors match the store map below. Lewis Drug and Nightingale Drug sit in the high-growth half.
| Rank | Chain | Rank movement | YoY growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Drug | - | +15.7% |
| 2 | Nightingale Drug | - | +14.6% |
| 3 | Hy-Vee Drugstore | - | +14.4% |
| 4 | CVS Pharmacy | - | +7.0% |
| 5 | Thrifty White Pharmacy | - | +3.8% |
| 6 | Medicap Pharmacy | - | -0.3% |
| 7 | Hartig Drug | - | -0.6% |
| 8 | Walgreens | - | -3.1% |
| 9 | NuCara | - | -23.0% |
- Walgreens
- CVS Pharmacy
- Hy-Vee Drugstore
- Medicap Pharmacy
- NuCara
- Hartig Drug
- Meyer Pharmacy
- Other tracked chains
Store footprint
Store map
281 tracked store locations in Iowa. The 7 largest tracked chains are highlighted. The top 5 chains by store count run 161 of the 281 stores (57%); 89 of the 104 tracked chains have a single store here. 10% of the tracked health & beauty stores here are pharmacies, against 9% across the United States.
- Walgreens (73)
- CVS Pharmacy (33)
- Hy-Vee Drugstore (3)
- Medicap Pharmacy (29)
- NuCara (16)
- Hartig Drug (10)
- Meyer Pharmacy (1)
- Other tracked chains
Top tracked chains by store count
- 1 Walgreens 73
- 2 CVS Pharmacy 33
- 3 Medicap Pharmacy 29
- 4 NuCara 16
- 5 Hartig Drug 10
- 6 Thrifty White Pharmacy 8
- 7 Lewis Drug 4
- 8 Hy-Vee Drugstore 3
- 9 Clayton Drug 3
- 10 Nightingale Drug 3
- 11 Hy-Vee Pharmacy 2
- 12 Montross Pharmacy 2
- 13 Clinic Pharmacy 2
- 14 Stoner Drug Co 2
- 15 Towncrest Pharmacy 2
- 16 Pella Regional Health Center Pharmacy 1
- 17 Bean's Pharmacy 1
- 18 Harlan Pharmacy 1
- 19 Lewis Family Drug Spirit Lake 1
- 20 Jacks Corner Drug 1
- 21 Manning Pharmacy 1
- 22 Heritage Family Pharmacy 1
- 23 Cresco Family Pharmacy 1
- 24 North Scott Pharmacy 1
- 25 NuCara Long Term Pharmacy Waterloo 1
- 26 Daniel Pharmacy 1
- 27 Oakland Pharmacy 1
- 28 Osterhaus Pharmacy 1
- 29 CHI Health Pharmacy 1
- 30 Medical Associates Pharmacy 1
- 31 Dutch Mill Pharmacy 1
- 32 New Leaf Specialty Pharmacy 1
- 33 Fifield Pharmacy 1
- 34 CR Care Pharmacy 1
- 35 MCMH Pharmacy 1
- 36 Fay Pharmacy 1
- 37 Eagle Grove Pharmacy 1
- 38 Cornerstone Apothecary 1
- 39 Corner Pharmacy 1
- 40 Bennett Health Mart Pharmacy 1
- 41 Allen Clinic Pharmacy 1
- 42 Elizabeth's Pharmacy on Main 1
- 43 Prairie Parkway Pharmacy 1
- 44 Heritage Park Pharmacy 1
- 45 Valley Drug Store 1
- 46 Community Pharmacy 1
- 47 Pexton Pharmacy 1
- 48 Wester Drug 1
- 49 AmiCare Pharmacy 1
- 50 Penn Drug Co. 1
More trends