The Hawkeye State is moving from strength to strength.
With the best high school graduation rate of any other state in the country, Iowa clearly takes education seriously. And recently, their economy has really begun to take off. Iowa's unemployment rate traditionally tracks lower than the national average—at the beginning of the year, it was a full 1.5 percent lower (3.3 percent versus the national 4.8 percent).
In addition, the average amount of money each family brings in is much higher than in the rest of the country. While the U.S. median household income still hasn't recovered fully from the Great Recession, Iowa's median household income has bounced back and then some, posting a gain of over $6,000 per family!
So clearly, Iowa is a good place to look for a job. But what about going to college? Well, the two are closely connected. Where you go to college will affect where your networks will be, which will make it easier to find a job later on. Iowa, then, might be a strong option for where you want to connect with classmates, professors, and alumni who can help you boost your career.
And for the schools themselves—Iowa can boast some top-notch public institutions, as well as a very wide array of private colleges and universities. Additionally, you can find the Top Online Schools in Iowa listed here. While we will discuss many of them at length in the rankings below, it has to be mentioned that Iowa City was named by UNESCO as an official "City of Literature" (the first-ever American city to receive the distinction) because it is home to the University of Iowa, where the renowned Iowa Writers' Workshop is based. But creative writing isn't the only relevant field for college students in Iowa. While the economy does include agriculture, manufacturing, biotech, finance, and insurance are all thriving sectors. There are lots of ways to get plugged in.
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What are the best colleges in Iowa?
Now a word about methodology. Our rankings are based on academic quality, return on investment, and student body diversity. That way, you can know that not only will you be getting a quality education in a place where you can thrive, but also that your college education will likely be able to pay for itself in short order. All three of these factors are themselves comprised of numerous data points, including the average test scores for entering freshmen, institutional endowment size, tuition, and graduates' expected early career salary. This data all comes from the National Center for Education Statistics and their IPEDS data set.
Best Colleges in Iowa
See our rankings methodology page.
