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Rankings / By State

Best Psychology Colleges in Iowa

By David Krug, Co-Founder, CollegeRanker · Updated 2026-05-31 · 22 schools · Agent Insights
22
Schools Analyzed
$55,894
Avg. Earnings (10yr)
59%
Avg. Graduation Rate
$22,687
Avg. Net Price

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This ranking scores 22 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 22
Avg. earnings at 10yr $55,894
Avg. graduation rate 59%
Avg. net price $22,687
Avg. median debt $24,221

How We Ranked

Psychology 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 PRICEGrinnell CollegeUpper IowaUniversity ofCoe CollegeCornell College

Graduation Rates

Longer bars = higher graduation rate.

Grinnell College88%Upper Iowa University38%University of Northern I…68%Coe College62%Cornell College67%Saint Ambrose University62%Drake University76%Grand View University55%Mount Mercy University57%Central College68%Clarke University56%Loras College69%Simpson College64%Buena Vista University54%Wartburg College66%Northwestern College65%William Penn University31%Morningside University52%Briar Cliff University48%Iowa State University75%

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Full Rankings

#1

Grinnell College

Grinnell, IA · 1,729 students · Private nonprofit

15% accepted 88% graduate $62,830 earnings
Grinnell'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

University of Northern Iowa

Cedar Falls, IA · 7,529 students · Public

93% accepted 68% graduate $55,177 earnings
University'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

Cornell College

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

80% accepted 67% graduate $53,460 earnings
Cornell's full profile
#6

Saint Ambrose University

Davenport, IA · 1,916 students · Private nonprofit

77% accepted 62% graduate $59,531 earnings
Saint's full profile
#7

Drake University

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

64% accepted 76% graduate $71,901 earnings
Drake's full profile
#8

Grand View University

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

99% accepted 55% graduate $52,824 earnings
Grand's full profile
#9

Mount Mercy University

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

83% accepted 57% graduate $60,787 earnings
Mount's full profile
#10

Central College

Pella, IA · 1,070 students · Private nonprofit

86% accepted 68% graduate $54,317 earnings
Central's full profile
#11

Clarke University

Dubuque, IA · 742 students · Private nonprofit

72% accepted 56% graduate $55,396 earnings
Clarke's full profile
#12

Loras College

Dubuque, IA · 1,083 students · Private nonprofit

100% accepted 69% graduate $58,289 earnings
Loras'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

Buena Vista University

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

78% accepted 54% graduate $49,156 earnings
Buena's full profile
#15

Wartburg College

Waverly, IA · 1,452 students · Private nonprofit

76% accepted 66% graduate $56,201 earnings
Wartburg's full profile
#16

Northwestern College

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

80% accepted 65% graduate $49,802 earnings
Northwestern's full profile
#17

William Penn University

Oskaloosa, IA · 1,301 students · Private nonprofit

52% accepted 31% graduate $48,936 earnings
William's full profile
#18

Morningside University

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

71% accepted 52% graduate $55,494 earnings
Morningside's full profile
#19

Briar Cliff University

Sioux City, IA · 624 students · Private nonprofit

48% graduate $54,475 earnings
Briar's full profile
#20

Iowa State University

Ames, IA · 25,367 students · Public

89% accepted 75% graduate $63,386 earnings
Iowa's full profile
#21

Graceland University-Lamoni

Lamoni, IA · 798 students · Private nonprofit

81% accepted 40% graduate $47,361 earnings
Graceland's full profile
#22

University of Dubuque

Dubuque, IA · 1,440 students · Private nonprofit

89% accepted 41% graduate $51,190 earnings
University'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.