Blog · October 13, 2026 · Iowa
Union County, Iowa: Plat Book Guide
A practical guide to the Union County plat book: the official link, towns and land across the county, property lines, and where deeds are recorded.
Main page: Union County, IA GIS & Parcel Viewer (official map link, Union County facts and neighboring maps).
Platbookmapper is an Amazon Associate. If you buy through an Amazon link on this page, we earn a commission. The link is a product, not the county map.
Parcel lines, owner names and acreage for every tract from Thayer to Afton are a few clicks away on the Union County plat book, and it costs nothing to use.
You'll find the viewer link, notes on Thayer and the land around it, and short answers to common questions about property lines and land records.
Getting into the Union County Beacon site
The Union County Beacon site is the county's own public parcel viewer; it runs on Schneider Geospatial's Beacon platform. Search an Afton address or an owner name on the search page, then jump to the map view to see that parcel's lines. If the map ever goes missing, check the Union County, Iowa listing on Platbookmapper for the new address.
Is there a current Union County plat book?
A plat book is the paper cousin of the online parcel map: a township-by-township atlas with owner names, handy in a truck near Shannon City. Treat a printed edition as a handy field reference near Afton and the online map as the current record. If a printed book and the online map disagree about a tract near Afton, the recorded deed decides.
Property lines in Union County, Iowa
Parcel boundaries on the Union County viewer are drawn to keep tax accounts straight, so small offsets from the true line are expected. Because Iowa is a section-township-range state, the legal description of a rural tract in Union County reads like a grid reference that you can match to the section lines on the map. If a neighbor's fence near Cromwell and the map disagree, neither one is proof. A survey is.
Union County at a glance: towns and land
Afton, Arispe, Cromwell, and Lorimor fill out the town list, and Creston is where the county seat sits. Out in the countryside, Talmage and Kent appear as small knots of lots along the road network. Organized in 1851, Union County has a long paper trail, and early deeds may cite landmarks that no longer exist. About 11,906 people lived in Union County in 2023, according to Census Bureau estimates, on roughly 424 square miles. That is a rural density, so once you leave Thayer expect a patchwork of farm tracts, woodlots and small acreage splits.
Hunting land and landowner permission in Union County
The woods between Shannon City and Talmage can look like one block from the road, but the parcel layer often shows several owners. Licenses and season dates for the Talmage area come from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Landowners in Union County hear from a lot of hunters; a specific request that names the parcel stands out.
Acreage and vacant lot search
To use the Union County plat book for a vacant land search:
- Follow the roads out of Shannon City with aerials on and mark every tract without a rooftop.
- Open the record for each empty tract near Cromwell and note whether the owner's mailing address is outside Union County.
- Size up price by comparing a few similar tracts around Cromwell on the assessment records.
- Make sure the parcel near Cromwell actually touches a public road, and ask how it's reached if it doesn't.
- Last, call the Union County planning or health office about permits, septic and floodplain before you commit.
Behind the map: land records in Union County
The map near Afton is only as good as the deeds behind it, and those are kept in the county's recording office. Check the county government website to see which office records deeds for land near Talmage. If the Union County parcel record shows an instrument number, that number is the shortcut to the recorded deed.
Who needs this map
Different people come to the Union County parcel map for different reasons. Land shoppers looking between Thayer and Cromwell measure road frontage on the map and check whether a tract is landlocked. First-time land buyers near Talmage use the map to find unbuilt tracts and contact owners directly. A builder sizing up an infill lot near Thayer can check its width, depth and road frontage in a couple of minutes. Bowhunters and waterfowlers around Thayer use the parcel layer to see which owners control a creek bottom, a woodlot or a field edge.
Data limits to keep in mind
If a tract near Creston changed hands recently, the recorded deed is more current than the map. The acreage on a Creston record is what the tax roll uses, and a survey can come out different.
The Union County economy in brief
Federal business data for 2022 shows 299 establishments in the county, with retail trade, other services, and health care and social assistance at the top of the list. What stands out is utilities, heavy and civil engineering construction, and motor vehicle and parts dealers: those sectors make up a much larger slice of local businesses than they do nationally.
Quick answers
Does Union County have a plat book?
Whether a current printed edition exists for Union County varies; the free online map covering Thayer and the rest of the county is the dependable option.
Do I need an account to use the Union County GIS map?
There's no fee to view the Union County Beacon site. Fees only apply if you order copies of recorded documents for a Union County tract.
How do I look up a property owner in Union County, IA?
Every parcel in the Union County viewer shows an owner of record. Rural tracts near Talmage can be found by panning and clicking.
How do I find property lines in Union County, Iowa?
On rural land near Talmage, the parcel map gives a rough outline, the deed gives the calls, and an Iowa surveyor finds the corners.
Open the official Union County, IA parcel map Union County in the Platbookmapper directory
Not a survey. County GIS and tax parcel maps are assessment and planning layers. They are not a substitute for a recorded plat, deed, or licensed survey, especially for fences, setbacks, or boundary disputes.