2023 Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Iowa
Finding the Best Nursing Master's Degree School for You
Nursing is the most popular major in Iowa with 2,966 degrees and certificates handed out in 2021-2022.
Today's nursing students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.
Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Nursing Degree Search has created the Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Iowa to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 6 schools in Iowa to see which master's degree programs offered the best educational experiences for nursing students. To come up with a school's ranking, we analyzed numerous factors related to post-graduation wages, the quality of education offered by the school, average accumulated student debt, and more.
View our full ranking methodology.
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2023 Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Iowa
The colleges and universities below are the best for nursing majors pursuing a master's degree.
Top Iowa Schools for a Master's in Nursing
Our 2023 rankings named Allen College the best school in Iowa for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Located in the small city of Waterloo, Allen College is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
Nursing majors at Allen College take out an average of $38,395 in student loans while working on their Master's Degree.
The excellent master’s degree programs at University of Iowa helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best nursing schools in Iowa. Iowa is a fairly large public school located in the city of Iowa City.
Out of the 6 schools in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, Graceland University - Lamoni landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the rural area of Lamoni, Graceland Lamoni is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
The average amount in student loans that nursing majors at Graceland Lamoni take out while working on their Master's Degree is $51,290.
Read full report on Nursing at Graceland University - Lamoni
Out of the 6 schools in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, Morningside College landed the # 4 spot on the list. Morningside is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Sioux City.
On average, nursing graduates from Morningside take out $29,734 in student loans while working on their Master's Degree.
Out of the 6 schools in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, Briar Cliff University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the small city of Sioux City, Briar Cliff is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
Mount Mercy University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Iowa ranking. Mount Mercy is a small private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Cedar Rapids.
Best Nursing Colleges in the Plains States Region
Explore all the Best Nursing Schools in the Plains States Area or other specific states within that region.
| State | Degrees Awarded |
|---|---|
| Minnesota | 14,890 |
| South Dakota | 1,022 |
| North Dakota | 976 |
| Nebraska | 1,908 |
| Kansas | 2,633 |
| Missouri | 6,840 |
Nursing Related Rankings by Major
Nursing Focus Areas
| Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Registered Nursing | 262,974 |
| Family Practice Nurse/Nursing | 16,647 |
| Nursing Practice | 8,862 |
| Nursing Administration | 8,663 |
| Other Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing | 4,717 |
| Nursing Science | 4,701 |
| Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing | 2,895 |
| Adult Health Nurse/Nursing | 2,075 |
| Public Health/Community Nurse/Nursing | 2,011 |
| Nurse Anesthetist | 1,768 |
| Critical Care Nursing | 747 |
| Geriatric Nurse/Nursing | 622 |
| Nurse Midwife/Nursing Midwifery | 567 |
| School Nursing | 539 |
| Clinical Nurse Leader | 502 |
| Clinical Nurse Specialist | 340 |
| Perioperative/Operating Room and Surgical Nurse/Nursing | 269 |
| Women’s Health Nurse/Nursing | 262 |
| Maternal/Child Health and Neonatal Nurse/Nursing | 192 |
| Emergency Room/Trauma Nursing | 87 |
| Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing | 26 |
| Forensic Nursing | 23 |
| Palliative Care Nursing | 13 |
Majors Similar to Nursing
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants | 85,339 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 6 schools only.
- Read more about our ranking methodology.
- 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 Aleksahgabrielle.
More about our data sources and methodologies.