Budget Analysts in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$67,041
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$19,509
22.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$75,524
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
$86,550
Kept after tax
$67,041
Worth in national money
$75,524
State rank
26
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Iowa pays budget analysts around $86,550 at the midpoint, 26 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 493 occupations Iowa reports, budget analysts comes in at 77 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $86,550 you keep $67,041 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $75,524 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $91,730, since top earners drag the number up.
- For budget analysts the Iowa median is $86,550, ranking 26 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.
- Budget analysts ranks 77 of 493 occupations by median in Iowa, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Retained pay in Iowa is $67,041 after the full tax stack, from $86,550. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $75,524 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $91,730 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Budget Analysts
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $63,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $86,550 |
| Top tenth earn over | $134,440 |
| This salary | $86,550 |
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 | $67,041 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $69,718 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,780 |
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 | $82,745 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,221 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $86,550 as a midpoint for Iowa, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $63,650 and the ninetieth is $134,440 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Iowa the take-home figure of $67,041, from $86,550, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 77 of 493 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $75,524 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 77.
- The Iowa median of $86,550 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $63,650 to $134,440. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Iowa is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $67,041 from $86,550. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 77 of 493 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $75,524, worked from $86,550, 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 77 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 $91,730 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 $63,650 at the bottom tenth to $134,440 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 $75,524 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 $67,041 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $91,730. 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 ($63,650) and the ninetieth ($134,440) 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 $75,524 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 $67,041 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.