Des Moines, IA (population: 200,202) has three liberal arts and humanities schools within its city limits. Grand View University, the highest ranked school in the city with a liberal arts and humanities program, has a total student population of 2,039. It is the 606th highest ranked school in the USA and the 8th highest in the state of Iowa (#1 is Luther College). To learn more about liberal arts and humanities programs in Des Moines, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of liberal arts and humanities professors at Grand View University such as Steve Snyder, and Philip Wainwright.
Liberal Arts and Humanities students from Des Moines schools who go on to become liberal arts and humanities graduate professionals, designers, artists, reporters, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 56,880 people working as education teachers alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $62,160. Also, Mathematicians make on average $93,920 per year and there are about 2,770 of them employed in the US today.
Des Moines lies in Polk county, which is one of the 52 counties in Iowa. Overall, the Des Moines-West Des Moines area has 322,000 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1% unemployment rate, $20/hr average worker wage, and a $42,120 average annual salary.
Of the 3 liberal arts and humanities schools in Des Moines, none have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Drake University comes out as the most expensive ($23,091/yr) for liberal arts and humanities students, with AIB College of Business as the lowest, reported at only $11,102/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Des Moines |
| Urbandale | IA | - | 1 | 15.697 | 16 | 5.8 miles |
| West Des Moines | IA | 57,065 | 1 | 4.37611 | 3 | 6.8 miles |
| Ankeny | IA | 45,142 | 2 | 40.688 | 102 | 9.7 miles |
| Ames | IA | 58,120 | 1 | 34.322 | 6 | 30.4 miles |
| Fort Dodge | IA | - | 2 | 25.3587 | 65 | 69.4 miles |
| Cedar Falls | IA | - | 3 | 27.7287 | 174 | 88.8 miles |
| Waterloo | IA | 67,011 | 3 | 23.0675 | 66 | 90.7 miles |