History is of the hottest bachelor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #20 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 4 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best History Bachelor's Degree Schools in Iowa ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 262 bachelor's degrees in history to qualified students.
Choosing a Great History School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The history bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality history program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
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 ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
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 history students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other history students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
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 history to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized history related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for history students working on their bachelor's degree.
The history 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 History Bachelor's Degree Schools in Iowa.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study History in Iowa
Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for history students seeking a a bachelor's degree.
Iowa State University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in history. Located in the small city of Ames, Iowa State is a public university with a fairly large student population.
History bachelor's degree recipients from Iowa State University get an earnings boost of approximately $5,877 above the typical income of history graduates.
University of Iowa is a good option for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in history. Iowa is a very large public university located in the city of Iowa City.
After graduation, history bachelor's recipients typically make around $33,117 in the first five years of their career.
Grinnell College is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in history. Located in the town of Grinnell, Grinnell is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the history program at Grinnell College earn $4,270 more than the typical college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
University of Northern Iowa is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in history. Located in the city of Cedar Falls, UNI is a public university with a medium-sized student population.
Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the history program make about $27,569 in their early career salary.
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.
The history bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality history program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
