Population (est.): 2.85 million.

Registered voters: 1.8 million — 36 percent unaffiliated, 32 percent Republican, 31 percent Democrat.

Percentage of voters attending GOP caucuses in 1996: 17 percent.

Race: 97 percent white. 2 percent black. 1 percent Asian. 2 percent Hispanic origin.

Median age: 36.3.

Median household income: $33,877.

Poverty rate: 9.4 percent.

Unemployment rate: 2.7 percent.

Abortions: 9.8 per 1,000 women in 1995, as compared to the national average of 22.9

1996 vote: 50 percent Clinton; 40 percent Dole; 9 percent Perot.

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Average life span: 77 years, as compared to U.S. average of 75 years.

Housing: Just over 72 percent of Iowans own their own homes, national average 66.3 percent.

Crime rate: 3,816 per 100,000 people in 1997, national average 4,923.

Tax burden: On a per person basis, Iowa paid $4,530 in federal taxes in 1997 and got back $4,661 in federal spending.

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