Cosmetology at Iowa School of Beauty-Sioux City

This program sits in an unusual spot: it beats most cosmetology programs nationally but lags behind Iowa's competitive beauty school market. At $20,000 in first-year earnings, graduates earn slightly more than 75% of cosmetology programs nationwide, yet land at just the 40th percentile within Iowa—where the median is actually $20,226. That puts them $3,000-$7,000 behind top Iowa schools like Aveda Institute-Des Moines or PCI Academy programs, a meaningful gap when you're starting from $20,000 annually.

The debt picture tells a clearer story. At $16,811, graduates here borrow nearly 53% more than the typical Iowa cosmetology student and about 70% more than the national median. The debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.84 means nearly a full year's salary goes toward repaying loans—manageable compared to many programs, but expensive given the modest starting salary and the fact that most Iowa competitors leave their graduates with less than $12,000 in debt. With 52% of students receiving Pell grants, many families here can least afford to carry extra debt.

The small sample size (under 30 graduates) adds uncertainty, but the pattern is consistent: you're paying premium debt for middle-of-the-pack Iowa outcomes. If location flexibility exists, Iowa's top-performing beauty schools deliver $3,000-$7,000 more in earnings while typically charging less to attend. That's worth serious consideration when every dollar matters in the early years of a cosmetology career.