Horticulture is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #87 most popular associate degree program in the country. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 2 schools in Iowa to determine which ones were the best for horticulture students pursuing a associate degree. Combined, these schools handed out 46 associate degrees in horticulture to qualified students.
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Average Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of associate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their associate degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on horticulture students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of horticulture students who choose to seek a associate degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How easy is it for horticulture to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized horticulture related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for horticulture students working on their associate degree.
The horticulture school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Horticulture Associate Degree Schools in Iowa.
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Kirkwood Community College is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in horticulture. Located in the midsize city of Cedar Rapids, Kirkwood Community College is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Associate students who receive their degree from the horticulture program make about $35,900 for their early career.
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).
