Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$78,827
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$25,433
24.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$88,802
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
$104,260
Kept after tax
$78,827
Worth in national money
$88,802
State rank
28
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Iowa is 28 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $104,260. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Iowa. It ranks 36 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Iowa is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $104,260 the take-home is $78,827; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $88,802 would nationally. The average comes to $112,820, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Iowa ranks 28 of 51 for education administrators, kindergarten through secondary at $104,260. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Within Iowa, education administrators, kindergarten through secondary ranks 36 of 493 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Post-tax income for education administrators, kindergarten through secondary in Iowa, on $104,260, is $78,827 — equivalent to $88,802 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 $112,820 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $77,350 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $104,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $154,000 |
| This salary | $104,260 |
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 | $78,827 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $82,177 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,236 |
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 | $99,498 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,851 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $104,260 as a midpoint for Iowa, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $77,350 and the ninetieth is $154,000 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $78,827 take-home in Iowa comes from $104,260. 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 36 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $88,802, the adjusted value of that $104,260 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 36 of 493 in the state.
- The Iowa median of $104,260 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $77,350 to $154,000. 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 $78,827, from $104,260, 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 36 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 28 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $88,802 — the adjusted value of that $104,260 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 36 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 $112,820 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $77,350, the highest tenth $154,000, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $88,802 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 $78,827.
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 $112,820. 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 ($77,350) and the ninetieth ($154,000) 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 $88,802 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 $78,827 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.