The 10 Best College Towns In Iowa For 2025

Believe it or not, America has the best colleges in the world. It's been proven by data (and surveys) that the U.S. educational system is of the highest quality

It's actually not even close and Iowa is home to a handful of them.

While we could debate which colleges within Iowa are the 'best,' that's not the goal of this post.

Instead, ride along with us as we determine which college towns in Iowa are the best.

You know, the type of places where there's energy and stimulation, but the type of place you can walk around at night. The happiest, chillest, most downright fun places where you can send your kids off to college where you won't break the bank, or worry about their well being.

The 10 Best College Towns In Iowa For 2025

1. Iowa City, IA
2. Sioux Center, IA
3. Ames, IA
4. Oskaloosa, IA
5. Decorah, IA
6. Grinnell, IA
7. Storm Lake, IA
8. Pella, IA
9. Des Moines, IA
10. Fairfield, IA

While some of these may not seem like a 'real' college town per se, when you look at the numbers, it's hard to argue against.

And for those who live in Iowa City, Sioux Center and Ames - we tip our hats to you and we'll schedule a tour for next week. You can see where Iowa City ranks in terms of the best college town in America.

Read on to find out more or for more on Iowa check out:

• Best Places To Live In Iowa
• Best Counties To Live In Iowa
• Cheapest Places To Live In Iowa

The 10 Best College Towns In Iowa For 2025

Colleges: University of Iowa, La James International College-Iowa City, The Salon Professional Academy-Iowa City

Colleges: Dordt College

Colleges: Iowa State University, PCI Academy-Ames

Colleges: William Penn University

Colleges: Luther College

Colleges: Grinnell College

Colleges: Buena Vista University, Faust Institute of Cosmetology-Storm Lake

Colleges: Central College

Colleges: Drake University, Grand View University, AIB College of Business

Colleges: Maharishi University of Management

How'd we figure out the best college towns in Iowa?

To crunch our data on Iowa's best college towns, we used Saturday Night Science to decide which qualities (or rankings) make sense to use in the data, and then crunch the numbers for our rankings.

First off, we firmly decided that only cities with a 4 year college should make the cut -- so there has to be at least one college granting bachelors degrees in town.

You might be surprised to hear that there are only 17 places in Iowa with an institution of higher learning with that criteria.

Source of data include OpenStreetMaps, the College Scorecard, the U.S. Census, and FBI reporting data to include the following factors:

• Students Make Up Large % of the Population
• College-specific Factors
• Graduation rate
• Tuition Cost
• Student Body Diversity
• Town Characteristics
• Safety
• Affordability
• Income and Employment Opportunities
• Things to Do
• Bars
• Museums & Libraries
• Population Density

We ranked each city across each of the criteria, with one being the best.

We rolled up the individual scores into the category and ranked them again based on the category.

Finally, we took the average rank across each category, with the city posting the lowest overall score being crowned the winner of the title "Best College Town In Iowa For 2025." We updated this article for 2025. This is our tenth time ranking the best college towns in Iowa.

And it looks like Iowa City placed Summa Cum Laude.

There You Have It -- The Best College Towns In The Iowa

If you're looking for the best college towns in Iowa, you came to the right place.

The best college towns in Iowa are Iowa City, Sioux Center, Ames, Oskaloosa, Decorah, Grinnell, Storm Lake, Pella, Des Moines, and Fairfield.

These places all have great college sports programs, tons of stuff to do, and are great places to raise a family.

For more reading, check out:

• Most African American Cities In Iowa
• Iowa Cities With The Largest Hispanic Population
• Best Places To Retire In Iowa

17 Best College Towns In Iowa

Rank	City	Population
1	Iowa City, IA	74878
2	Sioux Center, IA	8227
3	Ames, IA	66265
4	Oskaloosa, IA	11492
5	Decorah, IA	7611
6	Grinnell, IA	9511
7	Storm Lake, IA	11194
8	Pella, IA	10556
9	Des Moines, IA	213164
10	Fairfield, IA	9474
11	Waverly, IA	10399
12	Mount Pleasant, IA	9214
13	Dubuque, IA	59315
14	Indianola, IA	15845
15	Cedar Rapids, IA	136929
16	Davenport, IA	101448
17	Ankeny, IA	68392