Top Ranked Programs
Iowa State University's program mix is anchored in Engineering, consistent with the university's land-grant research identity, but the portfolio extends well beyond a single discipline. Engineering accounts for 23% of graduates, Business accounts for 19%, and Education accounts for 4% — a balance of applied-technical and professional fields that shapes the institution's overall earnings profile. Across 83 programs serving roughly 6,791 students annually, 63 meet Azimuth's [ranking threshold](/analysis/college-program-rankings-how-to-actually-evaluate-programs/). The strongest earnings come from engineering and computing subfields. Azimuth ranks Computer Engineering #41 nationally for median earnings four years after enrollment among nonprofit four-year institutions, with 295 graduates earning $105,753. Azimuth ranks Mechanical Engineering #173 nationally for median earnings four years after enrollment among nonprofit four-year institutions, with graduates earning $85,938, and Azimuth ranks Artificial Intelligence #108 nationally for median earnings four years after enrollment among nonprofit four-year institutions, with graduates earning $83,267. Mechanical Engineering combines large cohort scale — 418 graduates — with median earnings of $78,304, making it the program that contributes the most aggregate economic value to the institution's graduate outcomes. The largest programs by enrollment reflect the breadth of the university's applied portfolio. The Mechanical Engineering program graduates 406 students with median earnings of $85,938, and the The Digital Marketing program graduates 300 students with median earnings of $66,482. Engineering and computing programs are high-mobility pathways where graduates enter the national labor market directly, while fields like Computer Engineering and Animal Sciences serve students whose four-year earnings may undercount lifetime trajectory if a meaningful share continue to graduate or professional school. The [supply-demand map](/analysis/supply-demand-map-college-degrees/) provides context for how Iowa State University's dominant program families align with national labor-market demand. ```