Crossing Guards and Flaggers in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,361
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$6,879
16.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,709
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
$41,240
Kept after tax
$34,361
Worth in national money
$38,709
State rank
15
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for crossing guards and flaggers is strong here. Iowa's middle earner gets $41,240, putting the state 15 of 49 — about 8.24% ahead of the national figure.
- Measured against other jobs in Iowa, this one sits low: 399 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Here is where Iowa does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $41,240 you keep $34,361, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $38,709 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $46,270, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For crossing guards and flaggers, Iowa sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $41,240, ranking 15 of 49 and running about 8.24% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Crossing guards and flaggers occupies position 399 of 493 in Iowa's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- After federal, FICA and Iowa income tax, retained pay for crossing guards and flaggers on $41,240 is $34,361. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $38,709 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $46,270 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Crossing Guards and Flaggers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,130 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $70,520 |
| This salary | $41,240 |
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 | $34,361 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,316 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,366 |
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 | $40,051 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,862 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $41,240 as a midpoint for Iowa, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $32,130 and the ninetieth is $70,520 — 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 $34,361, worked from $41,240. 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 399 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $38,709, the adjusted value of that $41,240 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 399 of 493 in the state.
- The Iowa median of $41,240 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $32,130 to $70,520. 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 $34,361, on $41,240 for work ranking 399 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 399 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $38,709 — the adjusted value of that $41,240 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 399 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 $46,270, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $32,130, the highest tenth $70,520, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $38,709.
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 $34,361 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.
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 $46,270. 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 ($32,130) and the ninetieth ($70,520) 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 $38,709 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 $34,361 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.