Education Administrators, Postsecondary in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$68,884
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$20,436
22.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$77,601
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
$89,320
Kept after tax
$68,884
Worth in national money
$77,601
State rank
43
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Iowa is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $89,320, ranking 43 of 51 states — about 14.6% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 493 occupations Iowa reports, this job comes in at 73 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $89,320 you keep $68,884 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $77,601 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $108,070, since top earners drag the number up.
- Iowa ranks 43 of 51 for education administrators, postsecondary, with a median of $89,320 — about 14.6% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Education administrators, postsecondary ranks 73 of 493 occupations by median in Iowa, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Retained pay in Iowa is $68,884 after the full tax stack, from $89,320. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $77,601 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $108,070 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Education Administrators, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $59,960 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $89,320 |
| Top tenth earn over | $174,270 |
| This salary | $89,320 |
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 | $68,884 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $71,667 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,851 |
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 | $85,365 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,320 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $89,320 as a midpoint for Iowa, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $59,960 and the ninetieth is $174,270 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $68,884 take-home in Iowa comes from $89,320. 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 73 of 493.
- Two cautions on $77,601, the adjusted value of that $89,320 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Iowa. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 73 of 493 locally.
- The Iowa median of $89,320 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $59,960 to $174,270. 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 $68,884, from $89,320, 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 73 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 43 of 51 for it.
- This $77,601 adjusted figure, worked from $89,320, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 73 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 73 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 $108,070, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $59,960 at the bottom tenth to $174,270 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Iowa is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $77,601 in national terms.
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 $68,884 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $108,070. 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 ($59,960) and the ninetieth ($174,270) 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 $77,601 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 $68,884 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.