Ranked #13 in popularity, social work is one of the most sought-after degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 6 schools in Iowa to determine which ones were the best for social work students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 570 degrees in social work annually.
The social work program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Social Work rankings. We derive our Best Overall Social Work School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Social Work Schools in Iowa list to help you make the college decision.
If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the social work degrees they offer, see the list below.
Any student pursuing a degree in social work has to check out University of Iowa. Located in the city of Iowa City, Iowa is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #80 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Iowa is a great university overall.
There were about 189 social work students who graduated with this degree at Iowa in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the social work major at University of Iowa make $2,748 above the average college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
It's difficult to beat University of Northern Iowa if you wish to pursue a degree in social work. UNI is a moderately-sized public university located in the small city of Cedar Falls. A Best Colleges rank of #270 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UNI is a great university overall.
There were about 134 social work students who graduated with this degree at UNI in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the social work program state that they receive average early career wages of $44,610.
It's difficult to beat Loras College if you want to pursue a degree in social work. Loras is a small private not-for-profit college located in the city of Dubuque. This college ranks 29th out of 37 schools for overall quality in the state of Iowa.
There were approximately 21 social work students who graduated with this degree at Loras in the most recent year we have data available.
Luther College is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in social work. Located in the town of Decorah, Luther is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population. This college ranks 9th out of 37 colleges for overall quality in the state of Iowa.
There were roughly 15 social work students who graduated with this degree at Luther in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the social work program earn around $30,372 for their early career.
Located in the small city of Sioux City, Briar Cliff is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.
There were roughly 16 social work students who graduated with this degree at Briar Cliff in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, social work degree recipients typically make about $42,935 in the first five years of their career.
Located in the midsize city of Cedar Rapids, Mount Mercy is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. This university ranks 34th out of 37 schools for overall quality in the state of Iowa.
There were roughly 17 social work students who graduated with this degree at Mount Mercy in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, social work degree recipients typically earn about $37,303 at the beginning of their careers.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
Credit for the banner image above goes to Army Medicine.
The social work program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Social Work rankings. We derive our Best Overall Social Work School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
