Animal Trainers in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,724
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$7,296
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,244
Iowa costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Iowa — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$43,020
Kept after tax
$35,724
Worth in national money
$40,244
State rank
15
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Iowa pays animal trainers a middle wage of $43,020, ranking 15 of 47 states and sitting about 7.58% above the national middle.
- Measured against other jobs in Iowa, this one sits low: 389 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Iowa is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $43,020 the take-home is $35,724; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $40,244 would nationally. The average comes to $50,450, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Iowa's median for animal trainers is $43,020, about 7.58% above the national figure and 15 of 47 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Animal trainers occupies position 389 of 493 in Iowa's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Post-tax income for animal trainers in Iowa, on $43,020, is $35,724 — equivalent to $40,244 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $50,450 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Animal Trainers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,070 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,020 |
| Top tenth earn over | $83,860 |
| This salary | $43,020 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Iowa | $35,724 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,747 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,429 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $41,747 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,938 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of animal trainers in Iowa earn under $43,020 and half over. The published range runs $31,070 at the tenth percentile to $83,860 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $35,724 take-home in Iowa comes from $43,020. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 389 of 493.
- Two cautions on $40,244, the adjusted value of that $43,020 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Iowa. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 389 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for animal trainers in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,070 to $83,860; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $35,724, from $43,020, assumes a single Iowa filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 389 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 15 of 47 for it.
- This $40,244 adjusted figure, worked from $43,020, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 389 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 389 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $50,450 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $31,070 at the bottom tenth to $83,860 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Iowa sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $40,244 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Iowa then takes its own share, leaving $35,724.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Iowa is $50,450. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($31,070) and the ninetieth ($83,860) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Iowa's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $40,244 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $35,724 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Iowa income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.