Humboldt County Iowa

The Humboldt County 911 System Administrator is responsible for assigning addresses in the rural areas of Humboldt County.  The city clerk's office of each city in Humboldt County is responsible for assigning addresses within the city limits of each city; contact the city clerk's office of that particular city to have an address assigned. 

Humboldt County 911 System Administrator's office is located at 430 Sumner Avenue, Humboldt.  The telephone number is  515-332-5216.  Contact the Humboldt County 911 System Administrator if you do not know your address, or you are building a house or moving a house/building.  You will not be able to receive telephone service or utilities (mail, water, gas, etc..) until you have your official address.

The Humboldt County 911 System Administrator's duties include assigning new addresses and and maintaining the database of all structures in Humboldt County.  All this information is maintained in a file known as the Master Street Address Guide (MSAG).  The 911 System Administrator coordinates all addressing changes, via the MSAG, with all local telephone providers.  Humboldt County 911 System Administrator also performs all of the Global Positioning (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS, Electronic Mapping) functions associated with the 911/Dispatch environment.  Humboldt County's Addressing Guidelines meet's State and Federal (Postal Service, N.E.N.A) addressing standards.

Even if you receive mail at a P.O. Box you must have a 911 address.

If you live inside the city limits of any Humboldt County City, it is the city's responsibility to assign the address. Contact the appropriate city clerks office for your address if you live inside a city limits.

Address Posting Standards

As important as it is to have a unified standard for assigning address numbers, it is also necessary to provide guidelines for the display of your assigned address number. All residences and most structures in Humboldt County have been assigned a locatable address with a road name and a house number.  Whenever you place a call to 911 your phone number, name, house number and road name appear on the 911 dispatcher's screen and location on the digital map. From this and information that you give the dispatcher as to the nature of your emergency the 911 dispatchers sends emergency units to your location to assist you.

1. All structures with a designated address should display their assigned address numbers. The assigned number should be displayed on the address marker that was provided by the 911 Board to the property owner.  It is very important that these address posts remain in a uniform location throughout Humboldt County so that responding agencies know in what general location to look for an address.  Property owners who elect to remove, replace, re-position the sign post do so at their own risk; the Humboldt County 911 Board advises these individuals to contact IOWA ONE CALL before doing so.

2. Number at the Road Line:  Any posted number at the road should be placed high enough to not be obscured by snow, tall grass or weeds.  If you would like assistance in moving your address marker to a different location, please the Humboldt County 911 System Administrator at 332-5216

3. Size and Color of Number: In Humboldt County the address markers consist of a steel blade overlayed with red reflective material, and white reflective numbers.  The blade is attached to a 6 foot aluminum post that is placed 2 feet into the ground.

4. Property owner responsibility: Every person whose duty is to display the assigned number should remove any different number that might be mistaken for, or confused with, the number assigned to the property.