Community and Social Service Specialists, All Other in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,357
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$8,103
17.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,211
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
$46,460
Kept after tax
$38,357
Worth in national money
$43,211
State rank
40
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Iowa pays this job a middle wage of $46,460, 40 of 49 states and about 18.1% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 349 among 493 occupations Iowa publishes pay for.
- Iowa is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $46,460 the take-home is $38,357; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $43,211 would nationally. The average comes to $47,720, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Iowa's $46,460 median for community and social service specialists, all other places it 40 of 49 states, about 18.1% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 349 of 493 in Iowa places community and social service specialists, all other 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 community and social service specialists, all other in Iowa, on $46,460, is $38,357 — equivalent to $43,211 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 $47,720 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Community and Social Service Specialists, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,130 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,460 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,150 |
| This salary | $46,460 |
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 | $38,357 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,511 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,552 |
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 | $45,024 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,086 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,460 as a midpoint for Iowa, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $28,130 and the ninetieth is $63,150 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $38,357 take-home in Iowa comes from $46,460. 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 349 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $43,211, the adjusted value of that $46,460 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 349 of 493 in the state.
- The Iowa median of $46,460 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $28,130 to $63,150. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $38,357, from $46,460, 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 349 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 40 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $43,211 — the adjusted value of that $46,460 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 349 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $28,130 at the bottom tenth to $63,150 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $43,211.
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 $38,357 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($28,130) and the ninetieth ($63,150) 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 $43,211 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 $38,357 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.