Electricians in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,380
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$11,480
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,629
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
$60,860
Kept after tax
$49,380
Worth in national money
$55,629
State rank
40
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for electricians is on the low side in Iowa. The middle earner gets $60,860. That is 40 of 51 states, and about 3.69% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Electricians ranks 209 among 493 occupations Iowa publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $60,860 you keep $49,380 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $55,629 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $63,190, since top earners drag the number up.
- For electricians, Iowa sits in the lower band at $60,860, ranking 40 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 3.69%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 209 of 493 in Iowa places electricians 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 $49,380 after the full tax stack, from $60,860. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $55,629 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $63,190 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Electricians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $89,480 |
| This salary | $60,860 |
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 | $49,380 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,081 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,063 |
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 | $58,743 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,704 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $60,860 as a midpoint for Iowa, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $39,770 and the ninetieth is $89,480 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $49,380 take-home in Iowa comes from $60,860. 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 209 of 493.
- Two cautions on $55,629, the adjusted value of that $60,860 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 209 of 493 locally.
- The Iowa median of $60,860 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $39,770 to $89,480. 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 $49,380, from $60,860, 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 209 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 40 of 51 for it.
- This $55,629 adjusted figure, worked from $60,860, 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 209 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 209 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 $63,190 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $39,770 and the top tenth $89,480 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $55,629 in national terms.
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 $49,380.
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 $63,190. 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 ($39,770) and the ninetieth ($89,480) 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 $55,629 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 $49,380 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.