Electrical Engineering in Iowa

📊 Employment Overview

Iowa employs 1,900 electrical engineering professionals, representing approximately 1.0% of the national workforce in this field. Iowa ranks #30 nationally for electrical engineering employment.

💰 Salary Information

Electrical Engineering professionals in Iowa earn competitive salaries across all experience levels, with an average annual salary of $102,000.

Note: Salaries are adjusted for cost of living and local market conditions. Data based on BLS statistics and industry surveys (2024-2025).

🎓 Schools Offering Electrical Engineering

Loading school data...

🚀 Career Insights

Key information for electrical engineering professionals in Iowa.

🏢 Industry Landscape & Top Employers

Iowa's electrical engineering market — 1,900 engineers earning an average of $102,000 — is defined by a remarkable aerospace avionics cluster in Cedar Rapids, the nation's most wind-energy-intensive grid, a major agricultural electronics sector, and an increasingly important data center industry drawn by Iowa's abundant renewable electricity. Iowa generates more of its electricity from wind than any other state, making it a genuine laboratory for power systems engineers working at the frontier of grid integration.

Major Employers: Collins Aerospace (Cedar Rapids) — formerly Rockwell Collins — is Iowa's defining EE employer and one of the world's leading manufacturers of avionics, flight displays, communications systems, and cabin electronics for commercial and military aircraft. The company employs hundreds of electrical engineers for aircraft radio systems, GPS navigation receivers, head-up displays, weather radar, and communications management units that fly on virtually every major commercial airliner in the world. Collins Aerospace's Cedar Rapids campus is one of the most sophisticated avionics engineering environments anywhere in the country. John Deere's Waterloo facility is the world's largest tractor manufacturing plant, employing electrical engineers for precision agriculture electronics, machine automation, and powertrain control systems. MidAmerican Energy (a Berkshire Hathaway Energy subsidiary) employs power systems engineers to manage its extensive wind energy portfolio — MidAmerican has invested more in wind energy than virtually any other US utility. Principal Financial Group (Des Moines) and Meredith Corporation employ EEs for IT infrastructure and broadcast technology.

Wind Energy Infrastructure: Iowa's commitment to wind energy — generating over 60% of the state's electricity from wind in recent years — creates ongoing demand for electrical engineers specializing in wind turbine power electronics, substation design, and grid interconnection. Major wind turbine manufacturers including Siemens Gamesa and Vestas have Iowa service operations, and the state's extensive wind farm infrastructure requires sustained engineering support.

Data Centers: Iowa's cheap, clean wind power has attracted hyperscale data center investment — Microsoft, Google, and Facebook (Meta) have established major data center complexes in Iowa, drawn by renewable power at extremely low costs. These facilities employ electrical engineers for power distribution design, UPS systems, and electrical infrastructure management.

📈 Career Growth & Pathways

Iowa's EE career paths are defined by avionics electronics at Collins Aerospace and renewable energy engineering — two highly specialized tracks that offer technical depth and national-level expertise development within Iowa's affordable cost environment.

Typical Career Trajectory:

• Junior Electrical Engineer (0–2 years): $68,000–$88,000 — Collins Aerospace and MidAmerican Energy are the primary entry employers. Iowa State University's strong EE program feeds directly into Cedar Rapids and Des Moines employers.
• Mid-Level Engineer (3–7 years): $88,000–$115,000 — Collins Aerospace engineers who develop expertise in RTCA DO-160 environmental qualification, FAA TSO certification processes, or aircraft communications standards (VHF, HF, SATCOM) command meaningful premiums. Wind energy EEs with SCADA and power electronics experience advance strongly.
• Senior Engineer (7–12 years): $115,000–$148,000 — Technical authority in avionics system integration or power systems grid planning. Senior Collins engineers leading major avionics product development cycles for narrow-body or wide-body aircraft programs represent Iowa's premium EE tier.
• Principal/Staff Engineer (12+ years): $148,000–$195,000+ — Senior Collins Aerospace technical fellows and MidAmerican's senior grid planning engineers reach this range. Collins Aerospace engineers with deep expertise in next-generation avionics platforms (advanced air mobility, urban air mobility electronics) are in growing demand.

Avionics Specialization Value: Collins Aerospace's Cedar Rapids campus creates a concentrated avionics engineering community with expertise that is genuinely rare nationally. EEs who develop deep knowledge of DO-160G (environmental conditions for airborne equipment), DO-178C (software considerations), and FAA/EASA certification processes build credentials that transfer powerfully across the global aerospace electronics industry.

💰 Salary vs. Cost of Living

Iowa's $102,000 average EE salary in one of the nation's most affordable states creates excellent real purchasing power — particularly for engineers who prioritize homeownership and long-term financial security over coastal prestige.

Cedar Rapids: Iowa's primary EE employment center (Collins Aerospace), with cost of living roughly 15–20% below the national average. Median home prices of $200,000–$290,000 allow most engineers to purchase comfortable homes within the first few years of practice. The city is unpretentious and practical — good schools, manageable commutes, and easy access to outdoor recreation in the Iowa countryside.

Des Moines: Iowa's capital and largest city, with cost of living 10–15% below the national average. Median home prices of $230,000–$330,000 in the metro area. Des Moines has grown significantly as a financial services and insurance technology hub, offering EEs a more diverse employer base than Cedar Rapids.

Purchasing Power: An EE earning $102,000 in Cedar Rapids takes home approximately $77,000–$79,000 after federal and Iowa state income taxes (top rate 6% after recent reductions). This income supports comfortable homeownership, substantial retirement savings, and discretionary spending that is genuinely difficult to achieve on $145,000–$160,000 in California or New York.

Iowa Tax Reform: Iowa has substantially reduced its income tax rates in recent years, transitioning to a lower flat rate structure. This trend improves the after-tax picture for Iowa engineers and has been cited as a factor in the state's improving competitiveness for tech and engineering talent attraction.

📜 Licensing & Professional Development

Iowa's EE professional development is shaped by its aviation and renewable energy sectors — with aviation standards certifications being uniquely important given Collins Aerospace's dominance, and wind energy credentials growing in relevance as Iowa continues its extraordinary renewable transition.

The Iowa Engineering and Land Surveying Examining Board administers PE licensure via the standard FE → 4 Years Experience → PE Exam pathway. Iowa has reciprocity with neighboring Midwest states, useful for engineers working across the region.

High-Value Credentials in Iowa:

• RTCA DO-160G / DO-254 / DO-178C: The suite of aviation environmental and software/hardware design assurance standards is foundational for Collins Aerospace engineers. Understanding RTCA standards, FAA TSO authorization processes, and aircraft certification requirements is essentially a prerequisite for advancement in Iowa's avionics community.
• Wind Turbine Technician / WTEC Certification: For engineers working in Iowa's extensive wind energy sector, technical certification in wind turbine systems and electrical safety for high-voltage wind farm infrastructure demonstrates credibility in this specialized field.
• NERC Reliability Standards / CIP Cybersecurity: For MidAmerican Energy power systems engineers, familiarity with NERC Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) cybersecurity standards is increasingly required as Iowa's grid — with its high wind penetration — presents unique reliability challenges that attract regulatory attention.
• Certified Energy Manager (CEM): Relevant for utility engineers at MidAmerican and the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities managing Iowa's increasingly complex renewable portfolio.
• IEC 61400 (Wind Turbine Standards): Growing relevance for engineers in Iowa's wind energy sector who design, commission, or certify wind turbine electrical systems.

Education: Iowa State University (Ames) is the primary EE program, with strong ties to Collins Aerospace, John Deere, and MidAmerican Energy. The University of Iowa (Iowa City) provides additional pathways. Iowa State's POWER Systems Engineering Research Center (PSERC) affiliation makes it particularly strong for power systems engineers interested in renewable energy grid research.

📊 Job Market Outlook

Iowa's electrical engineering market is expected to grow steadily, with advanced air mobility avionics, renewable energy expansion, and data center growth providing the primary demand drivers.

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM): Collins Aerospace is a major supplier of avionics and electrical systems to the emerging urban air mobility sector — companies developing electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for air taxi and urban transportation applications. As AAM aircraft move toward FAA certification and commercial operations, the demand for avionics and power electronics engineers with both aviation certification expertise and electric propulsion knowledge is growing, and Collins Aerospace's Cedar Rapids campus is well positioned to capture this work.

Continued Wind Energy Investment: Iowa's wind energy capacity continues to grow, and the state's grid — already the most wind-intensive in the nation — is testing the limits of what is achievable with current grid technology. Grid stability engineering, energy storage integration, and demand-side management create ongoing EE challenges and employment. Offshore wind development in the Great Lakes, while not directly in Iowa, creates technology transfer opportunities for Iowa wind engineering expertise.

Data Center Expansion: Iowa's cheap renewable power continues to attract hyperscale data center investment. As AI compute facilities require more power per square foot than traditional server farms, Iowa's abundant wind generation at very low cost makes it an increasingly attractive destination for energy-intensive GPU cluster data centers, creating additional EE demand for electrical infrastructure design.

🕐 Day in the Life

Electrical engineering in Iowa centers on two distinctive professional environments — the avionics labs of Collins Aerospace and the wind-swept substations of Iowa's vast renewable energy infrastructure — within a Midwestern lifestyle of exceptional affordability and community.

At Collins Aerospace (Cedar Rapids): Avionics engineers work in labs filled with aircraft communication racks, antenna test chambers, and environmental test equipment. A day might involve configuring a VHF radio for DO-160G vibration testing, reviewing simulation results for a new GPS receiver algorithm, or participating in a systems requirements review with aircraft manufacturer customers. When a new airliner enters service with Collins avionics, the engineering team's work is literally flying above your head on every commercial flight — a distinctive professional satisfaction that aviation engineers describe as irreplaceable.

At MidAmerican Energy / Wind Farm Operations: Power systems engineers working on Iowa's wind energy portfolio spend time both in the utility's Des Moines headquarters analyzing grid data and in the field at wind farm substations across the state's flat agricultural landscape. A day might involve reviewing power flow studies for a new 300MW wind farm interconnection, analyzing frequency response data during a grid disturbance, or inspecting a substation relay upgrade. The scale of Iowa's wind commitment — more than 60% of electricity from wind on many days — creates genuinely novel grid engineering challenges that have no textbook solutions.

Lifestyle: Iowa's lifestyle is quintessentially Midwestern — deeply community-oriented, centered on family, sports (Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State Cyclones athletics are major social institutions), and the rhythms of an agricultural state. Cedar Rapids and Des Moines have grown meaningfully in restaurant, cultural, and entertainment options while maintaining dramatically lower costs than any coastal peer. The countryside offers hunting, fishing, cycling, and the quiet of the Great Plains. Engineers who choose Iowa typically do so deliberately — for the financial stability, the community values, and a professional environment where technical expertise is deeply respected.

🔄 Compare with Other States

See how Iowa compares to other top states for electrical engineering: