Wayne county is located in central southern Iowa bordering the state of Missouri on the South. It is almost in the center of the southern boundary of the state, being the sixth county east of the Missouri river and the fifth county west of the Mississippi river. It is in the southern Iowa loess soil area and a large part of the soils of the county are loessial in origin. On a considerable area, however, there has been practically a complete removal of the loess covering and the earlier Kansan drift is exposed. Almost half of the soils of the county are derived from this drift.