Iowa supports one accredited master's MFT program, Mount Mercy University (MA). That is the norm rather than the exception at this level, and it means your real comparison is not within the state at all but against programs elsewhere and against studying at a distance.
Every accredited master's MFT program in Iowa, ranked
All 1 of Iowa’s accredited master's MFT programs carry a score out of 100. One has a full published record behind its outcomes component.
- #1
Mount Mercy University (MA)
Cedar Rapids, IA
87
program score
Campus-basedMaster's2 yearsAccredited since November 1, 20158 scored cohortsWhat Mount Mercy University publishes about its graduates, against the median for comparable programs - Finish on time64.1%typical is 64.1%
- Working in the field100%typical is 100%
- Reached licensure93.5%typical is 93.5%
From 8 completed cohorts the program published itself. The mark on each bar is the median for comparable programs.
Where it leads in Iowa
Once licensed, the median for the occupation in Iowa is $67,180, in a market about as dense as most states'. The surveyed headcount behind that is small, so read it as indicative rather than firm.
What to know about it
Mount Mercy University runs this degree from Cedar Rapids, IA. Individual years swing hard, though, from 53.3% in 2015-2016 to 76% in 2016-2017, so the average is doing some hiding. No other master's program in Iowa holds COAMFTE accreditation, which makes the choice less about comparing and more about whether this one fits. Teaching is scheduled in the evenings, which matters if you are keeping a job. Curriculum runs to 60 credits. Applicants are told the GRE is not required. Clinical hours run through a training clinic the program runs itself, which is the difference between being placed and finding your own site. On its own published figures that is 60 credits at $635 each, or roughly $38,100 in tuition before fees. Several cohorts are still running, 2 of them, the most recent entering in 2024-2025. Six or more completed cohorts is enough history to trust the pattern rather than the latest year.
Why it sits here Scored 87 of 100, with 49.5 of 60 from a record covering 8 completed cohorts and 264 students.
Cohort by cohort
Cohort Admitted Graduated Placed Licensed 2024-2025 29 in process in process in process 2023-2024 29 in process in process in process 2022-2023 28 64.3% 100% 90.5% 2021-2022 27 63% 100% 100% 2020-2021 30 63.3% 100% 91.7% 2019-2020 25 64% 100% 100% Mount Mercy University program page Its published outcome table
Score breakdown
- Outcomes 49.5/6082.5 across 8 completed cohorts
- Transparency 25/25publishes 8 completed cohorts at the address COAMFTE lists
- Standing 12.5/15accredited without conditions, current term runs to 2029-05
264 students admitted since 2015
How is this ranking of Iowa MFT programs ordered?
The order of this ranking of Iowa MFT programs is built end to end from what the programs themselves publish, because all one of them report outcomes. Every program is marked out of 100 on the same three things: what its graduates achieved (60 points), whether it published that at the address the accreditor lists (25), and the standing of its accreditation (15).
A low score here is a statement about disclosure, not a measurement of teaching. A program that has published no graduation rate is given none, no estimate and nothing borrowed from a peer, and its card says so in those words. Publishing the data is a condition of accreditation, so what is being marked down is a requirement the program agreed to and has not met.
The methodology sets out the weights and the thresholds in full.
What do marriage and family therapists earn in Iowa?
Marriage and family therapists in Iowa earn a median of $67,180, against $66,940 nationally, on Bureau of Labor Statistics figures for May 2025. That is $240 above the national figure , and 17th highest of the 45 states that publish one. The range runs from about $42,680 at the tenth percentile to $127,720 at the ninetieth.
The state employs 240 of them, which is 0.36 times the national rate per head of population. That headcount is small enough that the wage figure rests on relatively few responses, so treat it as indicative rather than firm. Every state and every setting sits side by side on the salary page.
How do you get licensed as an MFT in Iowa?
Getting licensed as an MFT in Iowa starts with a qualifying master's degree, and the state offers exactly one accredited master's program to get it from, which is why the out-of-state and distance options on this page matter more here than they would in California. The hour counts, coursework rules and examination requirements that follow are the Iowa board's to set and to change, and this page does not reprint them, because a stale figure copied from a directory is worse than no figure at all.
What accreditation buys is a shorter conversation with the state board, which is why all one master's MFT program listed here is accredited and no unaccredited one appears. Worth weighing alongside it: Iowa carries fewer of these jobs per head than the country as a whole, at 0.36 times the national rate, so ask the programs above where their graduates actually end up.
The Iowa state board is worth contacting before you apply, not after. Its answers on supervised hours and on out-of-state experience are the ones that bind, and they occasionally differ from what accredited programs tell prospective students.
For the route step by step, see the career page; for what the scores here measure, the methodology.
MFT programs in Iowa by city
One city in Iowa has a page of its own, covering the programs based there and what the license pays in that metropolitan area. Programs in the rest of the state are on this page and nowhere else.
Where else can you study if Iowa does not have what you want?
If Iowa does not have what you want, you are in ordinary company, because a shortlist built only from this state would have one name on it.
The nearest alternatives with accredited master's MFT programs are Illinois (five), Indiana (four), Kansas (three). 17 states have no accredited programs at this level at all, which is the gap the accredited distance programs exist to fill.
The online and hybrid master's ranking covers what you can study from Iowa without moving.
To see Iowa's programs against the other 59 scored nationally, the national ranking puts them in one order.
Cities near Iowa with their own page
These sit elsewhere in the midwest, and each has a page covering the programs based there and what the job pays in that metropolitan area rather than statewide.
Common questions about MFT programs in Iowa
How many accredited master's MFT programs are in Iowa?
Can you get licensed as an MFT in Iowa with an online degree?
What do marriage and family therapists earn in Iowa?
What if the one accredited master's program in Iowa is not right for you?
Where do these figures come from?
Every figure on this page comes from one of three places, and each is linked below: COAMFTE for accreditation, the programs themselves for outcomes, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics for pay.
- COAMFTE Directory of Accredited Programs Accredited programs in Iowa, their level, city and status. Read 2026-08-21.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics May 2025 release, SOC 21-1013, all Iowa postholders.
- Ranking methodology The three factors, their weights, and the eligibility floor.