Best Training programs in Iowa, ranked by enrollment
Design or conduct work-related training and development programs to improve individual skills or organizational performance.
14 schools in Iowa run programs that feed this job, graduating 229 people a year. The job pays a median of $66,110 in Iowa across about 4,670 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
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.
3 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.
Top 14 schools in Iowa
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 5 of the 14 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Iowa University Fayette, IA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 46 | Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General | $49,106 | 34% | $22,697 | 96% |
| 2 | Waldorf University Forest City, IA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 44 | Adult and Continuing Education and Teaching | — | 21% | $22,328 | 77% |
| 3 | Iowa State University Ames, IA Public · 2 feeder programs | 35 | Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General | — | 75% | — | 89% |
| 4 | Western Iowa Tech Community College Sioux City, IA Public · 1 feeder programs | 29 | Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General | — | 50% | — | — |
| 5 | Hawkeye Community College Waterloo, IA Public · 1 feeder programs | 18 | Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General | — | 43% | — | — |
| 6 | University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, IA Public · 2 feeder programs | 17 | Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General | — | 68% | — | 93% |
| 7 | Mount Mercy University Cedar Rapids, IA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 13 | Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General | $48,722 | 58% | $23,054 | 83% |
| 8 | Drake University Des Moines, IA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 11 | Adult and Continuing Education and Teaching | $41,630 | 74% | $28,855 | 64% |
| 9 | Buena Vista University Storm Lake, IA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 8 | Educational/Instructional Technology | — | 62% | $17,609 | 78% |
| 10 | Grand View University Des Moines, IA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 3 | Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General | $49,917 | 54% | $20,840 | 99% |
| 11 | University of Dubuque Dubuque, IA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General | $48,657 | 40% | $21,324 | 89% |
| 12 | Cornell College Mount Vernon, IA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General | — | 62% | $23,073 | 80% |
| 13 | Dordt University Sioux Center, IA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General | — | 70% | $24,569 | 68% |
| 14 | William Penn University Oskaloosa, IA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General | — | 33% | $21,533 | 52% |
All 14 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.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Iowa University | Fayette | Private not-for-profit | 46 | 1 |
| Waldorf University | Forest City | Private not-for-profit | 44 | 3 |
| Iowa State University | Ames | Public | 35 | 2 |
| Western Iowa Tech Community College | Sioux City | Public | 29 | 1 |
| Hawkeye Community College | Waterloo | Public | 18 | 1 |
| University of Northern Iowa | Cedar Falls | Public | 17 | 2 |
| Mount Mercy University | Cedar Rapids | Private not-for-profit | 13 | 1 |
| Drake University | Des Moines | Private not-for-profit | 11 | 1 |
| Buena Vista University | Storm Lake | Private not-for-profit | 8 | 1 |
| Grand View University | Des Moines | Private not-for-profit | 3 | 1 |
| University of Dubuque | Dubuque | Private not-for-profit | 2 | 1 |
| Cornell College | Mount Vernon | Private not-for-profit | 1 | 1 |
| Dordt University | Sioux Center | Private not-for-profit | 1 | 1 |
| William Penn University | Oskaloosa | Private not-for-profit | 1 | 1 |
What training and development specialists earn in Iowa
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $69,280. Iowa pays below the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in Iowa
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
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 Training and Development Specialists page.
How to become a Training
Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
- Work experience needed
- Less than 5 years
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
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 7 majors mapped to Training and Development Specialists7 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 09.0901Organizational Communication, General
- 13.0501Educational/Instructional Technology
- 13.1201Adult and Continuing Education and Teaching
- 42.2804Industrial and Organizational Psychology
- 52.1001Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General
- 52.1005Human Resources Development
- 52.1006Executive/Career Coaching
Common questions
Answers for people weighing training and development specialists programs in Iowa.
What degree do you need to become a Training?+
Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General, which awarded 159 degrees in Iowa in 2024-25, 69.4% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Training?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Human Resources Management and Services, Teacher Education and Professional Development, Educational/Instructional Media Design. Together they graduate about 229 people a year in Iowa.
How much do training and development specialists earn in Iowa?+
The median is $66,110 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 4.6% below the U.S. median of $69,280. 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 training and development specialists growing?+
BLS projects a +10.8% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, much faster than average, with roughly 43,900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Iowa?+
14 institutions in Iowa reported graduates from at least one of the 3 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 training and development specialists work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Corporate Trainer, Training Specialist, Job Training Specialist, Learning and Development Specialist (L and D Specialist) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 13-1151.
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 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected 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 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, 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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