Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,377
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$4,433
14.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,715
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
$30,810
Kept after tax
$26,377
Worth in national money
$29,715
State rank
46
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Iowa. The middle earner gets $30,810. That is 46 of 51 states, and about 13.62% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 493 occupations Iowa publishes, this job lands at 472. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $30,810 you keep $26,377 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $29,715 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $34,360, since top earners drag the number up.
- For automotive and watercraft service attendants, Iowa sits in the lower band at $30,810, ranking 46 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 13.62%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Iowa, this work ranks 472 of 493 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in Iowa is $26,377 after the full tax stack, from $30,810. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $29,715 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $34,360 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,220 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,810 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,550 |
| This salary | $30,810 |
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 | $26,377 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,936 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,996 |
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 | $30,114 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,414 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $30,810 as a midpoint for Iowa, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $28,220 and the ninetieth is $47,550 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Iowa's $26,377, worked from $30,810. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 472 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $29,715 uses one figure for the whole of Iowa. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 472.
- The Iowa median of $30,810 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $28,220 to $47,550. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Iowa take-home of $26,377, on $30,810 for work ranking 472 of 493 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 472 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $29,715, worked from $30,810, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Iowa address, on work sitting at 472 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 $34,360 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $28,220 at the tenth percentile, $47,550 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $29,715.
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 $26,377.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $34,360. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($28,220 to $47,550) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Iowa rather than a national figure.
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 $29,715 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 $26,377 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.