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Rankings / By State

Best Business Colleges in Iowa

By David Krug, Co-Founder, CollegeRanker · Updated 2026-05-31 · 36 schools · Agent Insights
36
Schools Analyzed
$50,742
Avg. Earnings (10yr)
55%
Avg. Graduation Rate
$19,279
Avg. Net Price

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This ranking scores 36 institutions on graduation rates, graduate earnings, debt burdens, and social mobility data from Opportunity Insights. Every data point comes from federal sources. No surveys, no opinions.

Social mobility carries the heaviest weight in our algorithm. We use Raj Chetty's Mobility Report Card — built on 30 million anonymized tax records — to measure whether a college changes a family's economic trajectory across generations. Schools that take low-income students and launch them into higher earnings rank higher than schools that admit wealthy students and take credit for their success.

The transparency penalty matters here. Schools that don't report their data get scored lower than schools that do. If an institution won't show you its numbers, we think you should know that before you write them a tuition check.

Quick Numbers

Schools ranked 36
Avg. earnings at 10yr $50,742
Avg. graduation rate 55%
Avg. net price $19,279
Avg. median debt $20,468

How We Ranked

Business programs in Iowa ranked by outcomes and program concentration

Read our full methodology →

Earnings vs. Cost

Each dot is a ranked school. Up = higher earnings. Right = higher cost. Top-left is the best value.

$15K$68K$120K$0$50KNET PRICEUniversity ofUpper IowaMount MercyCoe CollegeUniversity of

Graduation Rates

Longer bars = higher graduation rate.

University of Iowa74%Upper Iowa University38%Mount Mercy University57%Coe College62%University of Northern I…68%Drake University76%Saint Ambrose University62%Buena Vista University54%Grand View University55%Northwestern College65%Dordt University68%Central College68%Simpson College64%Morningside University52%Kirkwood Community Colle…42%Loras College69%Wartburg College66%Luther College73%Cornell College67%Clarke University56%

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Full Rankings

#1

University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA · 22,264 students · Public

84% accepted 74% graduate $64,762 earnings
University's full profile
#2

Upper Iowa University

Fayette, IA · 1,994 students · Private nonprofit

96% accepted 38% graduate $52,766 earnings
Upper's full profile
#3

Mount Mercy University

Cedar Rapids, IA · 1,107 students · Private nonprofit

83% accepted 57% graduate $60,787 earnings
Mount's full profile
#4

Coe College

Cedar Rapids, IA · 1,164 students · Private nonprofit

64% accepted 62% graduate $57,125 earnings
Coe's full profile
#5

University of Northern Iowa

Cedar Falls, IA · 7,529 students · Public

93% accepted 68% graduate $55,177 earnings
University's full profile
#6

Drake University

Des Moines, IA · 2,543 students · Private nonprofit

64% accepted 76% graduate $71,901 earnings
Drake's full profile
#7

Saint Ambrose University

Davenport, IA · 1,916 students · Private nonprofit

77% accepted 62% graduate $59,531 earnings
Saint's full profile
#8

Buena Vista University

Storm Lake, IA · 1,366 students · Private nonprofit

78% accepted 54% graduate $49,156 earnings
Buena's full profile
#9

Grand View University

Des Moines, IA · 1,486 students · Private nonprofit

99% accepted 55% graduate $52,824 earnings
Grand's full profile
#10

Northwestern College

Orange City, IA · 1,175 students · Private nonprofit

80% accepted 65% graduate $49,802 earnings
Northwestern's full profile
#11

Dordt University

Sioux Center, IA · 1,597 students · Private nonprofit

68% accepted 68% graduate $52,559 earnings
Dordt's full profile
#12

Central College

Pella, IA · 1,070 students · Private nonprofit

86% accepted 68% graduate $54,317 earnings
Central's full profile
#13

Simpson College

Indianola, IA · 1,227 students · Private nonprofit

86% accepted 64% graduate $59,274 earnings
Simpson's full profile
#14

Morningside University

Sioux City, IA · 1,163 students · Private nonprofit

71% accepted 52% graduate $55,494 earnings
Morningside's full profile
#15

Kirkwood Community College

Cedar Rapids, IA · 7,591 students · Public

42% graduate $41,016 earnings
Kirkwood's full profile
#16

Loras College

Dubuque, IA · 1,083 students · Private nonprofit

100% accepted 69% graduate $58,289 earnings
Loras's full profile
#17

Wartburg College

Waverly, IA · 1,452 students · Private nonprofit

76% accepted 66% graduate $56,201 earnings
Wartburg's full profile
#18

Luther College

Decorah, IA · 1,379 students · Private nonprofit

72% accepted 73% graduate $59,850 earnings
Luther's full profile
#19

Cornell College

Mount Vernon, IA · 1,086 students · Private nonprofit

80% accepted 67% graduate $53,460 earnings
Cornell's full profile
#20

Clarke University

Dubuque, IA · 742 students · Private nonprofit

72% accepted 56% graduate $55,396 earnings
Clarke's full profile
#21

William Penn University

Oskaloosa, IA · 1,301 students · Private nonprofit

52% accepted 31% graduate $48,936 earnings
William's full profile
#22

Briar Cliff University

Sioux City, IA · 624 students · Private nonprofit

48% graduate $54,475 earnings
Briar's full profile
#23

North Iowa Area Community College

Mason City, IA · 1,320 students · Public

58% graduate $43,462 earnings
North's full profile
#24

Northeast Iowa Community College

Calmar, IA · 1,697 students · Public

50% graduate $41,306 earnings
Northeast's full profile
#25

Iowa State University

Ames, IA · 25,367 students · Public

89% accepted 75% graduate $63,386 earnings
Iowa's full profile
#26

University of Dubuque

Dubuque, IA · 1,440 students · Private nonprofit

89% accepted 41% graduate $51,190 earnings
University's full profile
#27

Iowa Central Community College

Fort Dodge, IA · 3,103 students · Public

43% graduate $42,046 earnings
Iowa's full profile
#28

Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary

Ankeny, IA · 405 students · Private nonprofit

68% accepted 64% graduate $40,650 earnings
Faith's full profile
#29

Hawkeye Community College

Waterloo, IA · 2,626 students · Public

38% graduate $42,849 earnings
Hawkeye's full profile
#30

Iowa Lakes Community College

Estherville, IA · 941 students · Public

36% graduate $43,108 earnings
Iowa's full profile
#31

Graceland University-Lamoni

Lamoni, IA · 798 students · Private nonprofit

81% accepted 40% graduate $47,361 earnings
Graceland's full profile
#32

Indian Hills Community College

Ottumwa, IA · 1,495 students · Public

40% graduate $40,507 earnings
Indian's full profile
#33

Eastern Iowa Community College District

Davenport, IA · 3,520 students · Public

39% graduate $39,060 earnings
Eastern's full profile
#34

Maharishi International University

Fairfield, IA · 922 students · Private nonprofit

96% accepted 34% graduate $27,981 earnings
Maharishi's full profile
#35

Ellsworth Community College

Iowa Falls, IA · 499 students · Public

40% graduate $40,562 earnings
Ellsworth's full profile
#36

Southwestern Community College

Creston, IA · 729 students · Public

56% graduate $40,129 earnings
Southwestern's full profile

Sources & Citations

[1]

U.S. Department of Education. College Scorecard Data. Federal Student Aid, National Center for Education Statistics.

[2]

National Center for Education Statistics. Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).

DK

David Krug

Co-Founder, CollegeRanker

David Krug is the co-founder of CollegeRanker and a data systems architect focused on making institutional research accessible to families. He builds the data pipelines and ranking algorithms that power CollegeRanker, drawing from federal datasets and Raj Chetty's Opportunity Insights research to measure what traditional rankings ignore: whether a college actually changes a family's economic trajectory.