Iowa, Nebraska and Kentucky Lead Per-Capita Toll in Listed U.S. Iran War Deaths

By Dylan Prescott

As Armed Forces Day approaches, a new state-by-state analysis offers a stark reminder that wartime losses are not felt evenly across the country. In a review of listed U.S. service member deaths connected to the Iran war, Iowa ranked highest per capita, followed by Nebraska and Kentucky.

The analysis, conducted by Briefcase PR, reviewed 13 confirmed U.S. service member deaths reported by TIME since the start of U.S. and Israeli hostilities against Iran in 2026. 

To evaluate the losses by state, the analysis grouped each listed service member by state of record or reported home state, then compared those totals with 2025 resident population estimates from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

On a per-capita basis, Iowa ranked first with two listed deaths and an estimated 2025 population of 3,238,387, equal to 0.618 deaths per million residents. Nebraska ranked second with one listed death and a population of 2,018,006, or 0.496 deaths per million residents. Kentucky ranked third with two listed deaths and a rate of 0.434 per million residents.

The rest of the top ten ranking was Alabama in fourth, with one listed death and 0.193 deaths per million residents; Minnesota in fifth, with one and 0.172; Ohio in sixth, with two and 0.168; Indiana in seventh, with one and 0.143; Washington in eighth, with one and 0.125; Florida in ninth, with one and 0.043; and California in tenth, with one and 0.025.

By raw count, Iowa, Kentucky and Ohio each had two listed deaths, the highest totals in the dataset. Alabama, California, Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska and Washington each had one.

The geographic pattern is notable. Midwestern states occupy several of the highest positions in the per-capita ranking, including Iowa, Nebraska, Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio and Indiana. For military families, veterans, and Guard and Reserve communities, that distribution is a reminder that the costs of war often land far from Washington and far from the battlefield.

Armed Forces Day, which was Saturday, May 16, is usually framed around gratitude, readiness and national service. This year, the data adds a more somber note. Behind each rate and ranking is a service member, a family, a unit and a hometown left to absorb the loss.

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Dylan Prescott is Director of the U.S. Division at Briefcase PR, a digital public relations agency specializing in data-led campaigns and original research. His work focuses on turning public datasets and newsworthy analysis into timely stories for U.S. media audiences.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.