The invention belongs to the field of environmental chemistry and discloses a method for preparing iron oxide red from coal ash .The method comprises the steps of 1, acid leaching, wherein digestion is conducted on coal ash with acid solution to obtain acid leaching solution; 2, extraction, wherein the acid leaching solution is extracted with an extracted organic phase to obtain extract liquor; 3, back extraction, wherein back extraction is conducted on the extract liquor with a back extractant to obtain back extraction solution; 4, evaporation and concentration, wherein the back extraction solution is evaporated, concentrated and crystallized; 5, calcination, wherein crystals are calcined to obtain iron oxide red .According to the method, iron oxide red is prepared with coal ash as the raw material, recycling application of coal ash waste is achieved, the utilization rate of valuable metal in coal ash is increased, and the environment problem is solved; an adopted extraction agent can be recycled, so that industrial production cost is reduced; the quality of prepared iron oxide red is high, and purity is 95% or more and meets the GB1863-2008 product technology requirement.