Compensation, Benefits, and Job Analysis Specialists in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$54,137
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$13,023
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,988
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
$67,160
Kept after tax
$54,137
Worth in national money
$60,988
State rank
36
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Iowa pays this job a middle wage of $67,160, 36 of 50 states and about 14.13% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 160 among 493 occupations Iowa publishes pay for.
- Iowa is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $67,160 the take-home is $54,137; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $60,988 would nationally. The average comes to $74,460, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Iowa's $67,160 median for compensation, benefits, and job analysis specialists places it 36 of 50 states, about 14.13% 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 160 of 493 in Iowa places compensation, benefits, and job analysis specialists 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 compensation, benefits, and job analysis specialists in Iowa, on $67,160, is $54,137 — equivalent to $60,988 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 $74,460 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Compensation, Benefits, and Job Analysis Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,710 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $67,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $103,830 |
| This salary | $67,160 |
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 | $54,137 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $56,077 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,280 |
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 | $64,663 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,531 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $67,160 as a midpoint for Iowa, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $49,710 and the ninetieth is $103,830 — 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 $54,137, worked from $67,160. 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 160 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $60,988 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 160.
- The Iowa median of $67,160 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $49,710 to $103,830. 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 $54,137, on $67,160 for work ranking 160 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 160 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $60,988, worked from $67,160, 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 160 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 $74,460, 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 $49,710 and the top tenth $103,830 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $60,988.
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 $54,137 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $74,460. 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 ($49,710) and the ninetieth ($103,830) 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 $60,988 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 $54,137 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.