Iowa has about 3.2 million residents. Registered nurses average $80,540 a year, 48th among the fifty states and the District of Columbia, one of the four lowest figures in the country.
Licensure
The Iowa Board of Nursing licenses registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and advanced registered nurse practitioners. It sits within the Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing on Park Avenue in Des Moines, telephone (515) 380-7308. Rules and applications are at dial.iowa.gov.
Iowa was among the first states to implement the Nurse Licensure Compact, in 2000. A nurse living in Iowa holds one multistate license good in every other compact state, which covers five of its six neighbors. Illinois and Minnesota are the exceptions.
Nurse practitioner practice
Iowa has been a full practice state longer than most. Nurse practitioners evaluate patients, order and interpret tests, and prescribe under the nursing board's authority, with no physician agreement required. Most Iowa counties are rural, and nurse practitioners staff a large share of the primary care clinics in them. See nurse practitioner practice authority.
Nursing education
The University of Iowa College of Nursing in Iowa City is the state's academic nursing school and its main source of graduate prepared nurses. Allen College in Waterloo, attached to a hospital system, and a set of private colleges run further baccalaureate programs, with the community colleges supplying associate degree and practical nurse graduates across the state.
Pay and workforce
The largest hospital employers are the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, UnityPoint Health and MercyOne. Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport and Sioux City hold most of the urban nursing work. Small county hospitals cover the rest of the state, and Iowa has one of the higher counts of critical access hospitals in the country for its size. See rural and frontier nursing.
With pay near the bottom of the national range, Iowa hospitals lose staff to Minnesota, Illinois and Nebraska. Of the three only Nebraska is in the compact, so the other two moves require a new license. See registered nurse pay.
Related
- Nurse Licensure Compact
- Nurse practitioner practice authority
- Critical access hospitals
- Registered nurse pay
- Nursing by state
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, state population estimates for July 1, 2025. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, registered nurses (29-1141), May 2025. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- Iowa Board of Nursing, contact details and licensing information. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- Nurse Licensure Compact, member states. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- American Association of Nurse Practitioners, State Practice Environment. Accessed September 8, 2026.