Counter and Rental Clerks in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,616
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$6,344
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,743
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
$38,960
Kept after tax
$32,616
Worth in national money
$36,743
State rank
30
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Iowa pays counter and rental clerks around $38,960 at the midpoint, 30 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 493 occupations Iowa publishes, counter and rental clerks lands at 415. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Iowa is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $38,960 the take-home is $32,616; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $36,743 would nationally. The average comes to $42,960, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For counter and rental clerks the Iowa median is $38,960, ranking 30 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.
- Within Iowa, this work ranks 415 of 493 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Post-tax income for counter and rental clerks in Iowa, on $38,960, is $32,616 — equivalent to $36,743 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 $42,960 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Counter and Rental Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,820 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,960 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,490 |
| This salary | $38,960 |
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 | $32,616 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,484 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,285 |
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 | $37,879 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,764 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $38,960 as a midpoint for Iowa, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,820 and the ninetieth is $58,490 — 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 $32,616, worked from $38,960. 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 415 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $36,743, the adjusted value of that $38,960 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 415 of 493 in the state.
- The Iowa median of $38,960 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,820 to $58,490. 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 $32,616, on $38,960 for work ranking 415 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 415 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $36,743 — the adjusted value of that $38,960 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 415 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 $42,960 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $31,820 at the tenth percentile, $58,490 at the ninetieth.
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 $36,743 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Iowa then takes its own share, leaving $32,616.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $42,960. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,820 to $58,490) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Iowa rather than a national figure.
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 $36,743 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 $32,616 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.