Bill and Account Collectors in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,005
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$7,995
17.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,814
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
$46,000
Kept after tax
$38,005
Worth in national money
$42,814
State rank
31
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Iowa pays bill and account collectors around $46,000 at the midpoint, 31 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Bill and account collectors ranks 357 among 493 occupations Iowa publishes pay for.
- Iowa is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $46,000 the take-home is $38,005; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $42,814 would nationally. The average comes to $49,760, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For bill and account collectors the Iowa median is $46,000, ranking 31 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Position 357 of 493 in Iowa places bill and account collectors 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.
- Post-tax income for bill and account collectors in Iowa, on $46,000, is $38,005 — equivalent to $42,814 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 $49,760 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Bill and Account Collectors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,350 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $74,560 |
| This salary | $46,000 |
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 | $38,005 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,141 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,535 |
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 | $44,586 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,066 |
| 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 bill and account collectors in Iowa earn under $46,000 and half over. The published range runs $35,350 at the tenth percentile to $74,560 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $38,005 take-home in Iowa comes from $46,000. 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 357 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $42,814, the adjusted value of that $46,000 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 357 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for bill and account collectors in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,350 to $74,560; 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 $38,005, from $46,000, 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 357 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 31 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $42,814 — the adjusted value of that $46,000 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 357 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $49,760, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $35,350 and the top tenth $74,560 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Iowa is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $42,814 in national terms.
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 $38,005 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 $49,760. 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 ($35,350) and the ninetieth ($74,560) 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 $42,814 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 $38,005 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.