Court, Municipal, and License Clerks in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,750
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$8,530
17.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,780
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
$48,280
Kept after tax
$39,750
Worth in national money
$44,780
State rank
26
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Iowa is 26 of 51 states for court, municipal, and license clerks, with a middle wage of $48,280. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Iowa, this sits in the middle: 317 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Iowa is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $48,280 the take-home is $39,750; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $44,780 would nationally. The average comes to $50,470, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Iowa ranks 26 of 51 for court, municipal, and license clerks at $48,280. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Court, municipal, and license clerks ranks 317 of 493 occupations in Iowa by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Post-tax income for court, municipal, and license clerks in Iowa, on $48,280, is $39,750 — equivalent to $44,780 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 $50,470 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Court, Municipal, and License Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,790 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,280 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,610 |
| This salary | $48,280 |
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 | $39,750 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,973 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,616 |
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 | $46,758 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,164 |
| 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 court, municipal, and license clerks in Iowa earn under $48,280 and half over. The published range runs $37,790 at the tenth percentile to $63,610 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $39,750 take-home in Iowa comes from $48,280. 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 317 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $44,780, the adjusted value of that $48,280 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 317 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for court, municipal, and license clerks in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,790 to $63,610; 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 $39,750, from $48,280, 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 317 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 26 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $44,780 — the adjusted value of that $48,280 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 317 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 $50,470, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $37,790 at the bottom tenth to $63,610 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $44,780.
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 $39,750.
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 $50,470. 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 ($37,790 to $63,610) 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 $44,780 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 $39,750 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.