Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,073
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$10,467
18.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,903
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
$56,540
Kept after tax
$46,073
Worth in national money
$51,903
State rank
47
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Iowa. The middle earner gets $56,540. That is 47 of 51 states, and about 12.11% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 256 among 493 occupations Iowa publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $56,540 you keep $46,073 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $51,903 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $58,190, since top earners drag the number up.
- For educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors, Iowa sits in the lower band at $56,540, ranking 47 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 12.11%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 256 of 493 in Iowa places educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in Iowa is $46,073 after the full tax stack, from $56,540. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $51,903 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $58,190 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,470 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,540 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,110 |
| This salary | $56,540 |
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 | $46,073 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,610 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,910 |
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 | $54,627 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,519 |
| 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 educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in Iowa earn under $56,540 and half over. The published range runs $43,470 at the tenth percentile to $77,110 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Iowa's $46,073, worked from $56,540. 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 256 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $51,903 uses one figure for the whole of Iowa. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 256.
- Figures are distribution medians for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $43,470 to $77,110; 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.
- The Iowa take-home of $46,073, on $56,540 for work ranking 256 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 256 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $51,903, worked from $56,540, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Iowa address, on work sitting at 256 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $43,470 at the bottom tenth to $77,110 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 $51,903.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Iowa's own levy, $46,073 remains.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($43,470 to $77,110) 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 $51,903 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 $46,073 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.