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Cedar Falls, Iowa is home to about 40,662 residents. Median household income is $74,165 (Census ACS 2023, 5-year). About 49.2% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In the Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA metro area, the top-earning substance abuse counseling-related role is Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselor at a median $63,230 annually (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer substance abuse counseling programs near Cedar Falls, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Cedar Falls city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS data on every site update.
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS). To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked against schools at the same credential level:
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score. On this page, schools are ordered by distance from Cedar Falls. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source: IPEDS / College Scorecard (2023 cohort). Browse all Iowa schools on the Iowa substance abuse counseling page.
Cedar Falls is part of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA metro area (BLS area code 47940). Where MSA-level wages are published, the table below shows MSA medians; otherwise it falls back to Iowa statewide.
| Occupation | Median Wage | Source | COL-Adjusted (US=100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselor | $63,230 | Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA | $72,595 |
| Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Worker | $60,160 | Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA | $69,070 |
| Social and Community Service Manager | $59,820 | Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA | $68,680 |
| Social and Human Service Assistant | $44,250 | Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA | $50,804 |
Source: BLS, May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes wage data at the metro (MSA) and state level – not by individual city.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 40,662 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B01003) |
| Median household income | $74,165 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B19013) |
| Adults 25+ with bachelor’s+ | 49.2% | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B15003) |
| Regional Price Parity (US=100) | 87.1 (below U.S. average) | BEA RPP 2024 |
Based on BLS OEWS May 2025 wage data, the top-paying substance abuse counseling-related roles near Cedar Falls are: Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselor ($63,230), Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Worker ($60,160), Social and Community Service Manager ($59,820). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with Iowa statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.
Waterloo, IA is 5.5 miles from Cedar Falls and has its own set of local substance abuse counseling programs – see the city’s page. For online programs, distance matters less; for hybrid or in-person formats, comparing both can help.
Cedar Falls’s median household income of $74,165 (Census ACS 2023) is one input. Online programs let students stay in Cedar Falls while attending lower-cost out-of-state schools, and Iowa public universities often offer reduced in-state online tuition.
Confirm institutional accreditation via the U.S. Department of Education database (U.S. Dept. of Education database), and check for any program-specific accreditation listed by the school.
Compare every accredited online degree program with city-level data for Cedar Falls:
Data verified: August 11, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
Back to Best Substance Abuse Counseling Schools in Iowa (2026)
