Iowa·Architecture and Engineering Occupations·SOC 17-3025

Best Environmental Engineering Technologist programs in Iowa, ranked by enrollment

Apply theory and principles of environmental engineering to modify, test, and operate equipment and devices used in the prevention, control, and remediation of environmental problems, including waste treatment and site remediation, under.

3 schools in Iowa run programs that feed this job, graduating 72 people a year. The job pays a median of $58,690 in Iowa across about 80 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledEnvironmental TechnicianEnvironmental Field TechnicianHaz Tech (Hazardous Technician)Air Quality Instrument SpecialistAir AnalystAir TechnicianSoil TechnicianField Technician
Graduates / yr
72
in Iowa
Median pay · Iowa
$58,690
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
80
people employed
Schools
3
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
42%
across those schools
Median net price
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Iowa that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

2 programs in Iowa that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Iowa (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Iowa page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 15.0506In Iowa
68
94.4%
2$36,407$10,250
2
CIP 15.0507In Iowa
4
5.6%
1$36,407$10,250

Top 3 schools in Iowa

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 0 of the 3 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Des Moines Area Community College
Ankeny, IA Public · 1 feeder programs
61Water Quality and Wastewater Treatment Management and Recycling Technology/Technician39%
2Kirkwood Community College
Cedar Rapids, IA Public · 1 feeder programs
7Water Quality and Wastewater Treatment Management and Recycling Technology/Technician43%
3Eastern Iowa Community College District
Davenport, IA Public · 1 feeder programs
4Environmental/Environmental Engineering Technology/Technician45%

All 3 schools in Iowa

Every school in Iowa with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Iowa that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Des Moines Area Community CollegeAnkenyPublic611
Kirkwood Community CollegeCedar RapidsPublic71
Eastern Iowa Community College DistrictDavenportPublic41

What environmental engineering technologists and technicians earn in Iowa

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Iowa
$58,690
Mean annual
$61,890
Jobs in state
80
What the range looks like
10th pct$44,920Median$58,69090th pct$78,280
Versus the national median
-2.1%

U.S. median $59,920. Iowa pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.68×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+1.2%
Little or no change
Openings per year
1,100
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
100
12,900 → 13,000
Typical entry education
Associate's degree

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Environmental Engineering Technologists and Technicians page.

How to become a Environmental Engineering Technologist

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Associate's degree

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Top skills

Active ListeningCritical ThinkingReading ComprehensionActive LearningMonitoringScience

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Iowa

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 5 majors mapped to Environmental Engineering Technologists and Technicians4 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 15.0506Water Quality and Wastewater Treatment Management and Recycling Technology/Technician
  • 15.0507Environmental/Environmental Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.0508Hazardous Materials Management and Waste Technology/Technician
  • 15.0704Hazardous Materials Information Systems Technology/Technician(no graduates reported)
  • 26.1006Environmental Toxicology

Common questions

Answers for people weighing environmental engineering technologists and technicians programs in Iowa.

What degree do you need to become an Environmental Engineering Technologist?+

Associate's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Water Quality and Wastewater Treatment Management and Recycling Technology/Technician, which awarded 68 degrees in Iowa in 2024-25, 94.4% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming an Environmental Engineering Technologist?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 2 programs to this occupation. The largest are Environmental Control Technologies/Technicians. Together they graduate about 72 people a year in Iowa.

How much do environmental engineering technologists and technicians earn in Iowa?+

The median is $58,690 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 2.1% below the U.S. median of $59,920. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for environmental engineering technologists and technicians growing?+

BLS projects a +1.2% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 1,100 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Iowa?+

3 institutions in Iowa reported graduates from at least one of the 2 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do environmental engineering technologists and technicians work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Environmental Technician, Environmental Field Technician, Haz Tech (Hazardous Technician), Air Quality Instrument Specialist among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 17-3025.

Environmental Engineering Technologists and Technicians in other statesCaliforniaOhioFloridaNorth CarolinaOregonNew YorkNew JerseyWisconsin

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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