2025 Best Business Administration & Management Master's Degree Schools in Iowa

Business Administration & Management is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #1 most popular major in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

College Factual reviewed 13 schools in Iowa to determine which ones were the best for master's degree seekers in the field of business administration & management. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,132 master's degrees in business administration & management during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Business Administration & Management School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of business administration & management for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's 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 business administration & management students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of business administration & management students who choose to seek a master's 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 business administration & management to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized business administration & management related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for business administration & management students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Business Administration & Management Schools

The business administration 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 Business Administration & Management Master's Degree Schools in Iowa.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Business Administration & Management in Iowa

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in business administration & management.

10 Top Iowa Schools for a Master's in Business Administration

1

University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA

475 Annual Graduates

$116,611 Median Starting Salary

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in business administration & management needs to take a look at University of Iowa. Iowa is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Iowa City.

Business Administration & Management master's degree recipients from University of Iowa earn a boost of around $40,399 over the average earnings of business administration & management graduates.

More information about a master’s in business administration & management from University of Iowa

2

Drake University
Des Moines, IA

87 Annual Graduates

$91,098 Median Starting Salary

Any student who is interested in a master's degree in business administration & management has to look into Drake University. Located in the city of Des Moines, Drake is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Business Administration & Management master's degree recipients from Drake University get an earnings boost of about $14,886 over the average income of business administration & management graduates.

More information about a master’s in business administration & management from Drake University

3

University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, IA

13 Annual Graduates

$78,244 Median Starting Salary

University of Northern Iowa is a wonderful option for students pursuing a master's degree in business administration & management. Located in the small city of Cedar Falls, UNI is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.

Master's recipients from the business administration & management program at University of Northern Iowa make $2,032 more than the typical graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in business administration & management from University of Northern Iowa

4

Saint Ambrose University
Davenport, IA

61 Annual Graduates

$79,957 Median Starting Salary

It is hard to beat Saint Ambrose University if you want to pursue a master's degree in business administration & management. Located in the midsize city of Davenport, St. Ambrose University is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Those business administration & management students who get their master's degree from Saint Ambrose University receive $3,745 more than the typical business administration student.

More information about a master’s in business administration & management from Saint Ambrose University

5

Wartburg College
Waverly, IA

15 Annual Graduates

Located in the town of Waverly, Wartburg is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.More information about a master’s in business administration & management from Wartburg College

6

University of Dubuque
Dubuque, IA

92 Annual Graduates

$70,580 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Dubuque, UD is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Master's students who receive their degree from the business administration program earn about $70,580 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a master’s in business administration & management from University of Dubuque

7

Mount Mercy University
Cedar Rapids, IA

57 Annual Graduates

$76,631 Median Starting Salary

Mount Mercy is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Cedar Rapids.

After graduation, business administration master's recipients usually make about $76,631 in their early careers.

More information about a master’s in business administration & management from Mount Mercy University

8

Upper Iowa University
Fayette, IA

72 Annual Graduates

$73,626 Median Starting Salary

Located in the rural area of Fayette, UIU is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the business administration program state that they receive average early career earnings of $73,626.

More information about a master’s in business administration & management from Upper Iowa University

9

Waldorf University
Forest City, IA

147 Annual Graduates

$64,605 Median Starting Salary

Located in the remote area of Forest City, Waldorf is a private for-profit university with a small student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the business administration program report average early career income of $64,605.

More information about a master’s in business administration & management from Waldorf University

10

Briar Cliff University
Sioux City, IA

12 Annual Graduates

$71,348 Median Starting Salary

Briar Cliff is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Sioux City.

After graduating, business administration master's recipients usually earn an average of $71,348 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a master’s in business administration & management from Briar Cliff University

Best Business Administration & Management Colleges in the Plains States Region

Explore all the Best Business Administration & Management Schools in the Plains States Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Missouri	193	3,162
Minnesota	174	2,786
Kansas	149	1,443
Nebraska	123	939
North Dakota	115	314
South Dakota	89	171

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Business Administration

Business Administration & Management is one of 21 different types of Business, Management & Marketing programs to choose from.

Business Administration Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
General Business Administration and Management	751
Organizational Leadership	258
Interior Design Management	109
Operations Management	11
Office Administration	3

Most Popular Majors Related to Business Administration

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	165
Accounting	102
Human Resource Management	40
Finance & Financial Management	23
Management Information Systems	7
Real Estate	5
Hospitality Management	4

Notes and References

• 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). More about our data sources and methodologies.