Automotive Body and Related Repairers in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,608
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$8,793
17.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,746
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
$49,400
Kept after tax
$40,608
Worth in national money
$45,746
State rank
37
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Iowa is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $49,400, ranking 37 of 51 states — about 10% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 301 among 493 occupations Iowa publishes pay for.
- Here is where Iowa does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $49,400 you keep $40,608, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $45,746 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $57,470, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Iowa ranks 37 of 51 for automotive body and related repairers, with a median of $49,400 — about 10% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Position 301 of 493 in Iowa places automotive body and related repairers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After federal, FICA and Iowa income tax, retained pay for automotive body and related repairers on $49,400 is $40,608. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $45,746 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $57,470 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Automotive Body and Related Repairers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,690 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $85,730 |
| This salary | $49,400 |
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 | $40,608 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,873 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,656 |
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 | $47,825 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,212 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $49,400 as a midpoint for Iowa, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,690 and the ninetieth is $85,730 — 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 $40,608, worked from $49,400. 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 301 of 493.
- Two cautions on $45,746, the adjusted value of that $49,400 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 301 of 493 locally.
- The Iowa median of $49,400 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,690 to $85,730. 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 $40,608, on $49,400 for work ranking 301 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 301 of 493 in the state.
- This $45,746 adjusted figure, worked from $49,400, 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 301 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 301 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $57,470, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $37,690 and the top tenth $85,730 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $45,746 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Iowa adds its own income tax on top — which is why $40,608 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $57,470. 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 ($37,690) and the ninetieth ($85,730) 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 $45,746 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 $40,608 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.