Emergency Medical Technicians in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,917
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$6,743
16.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,209
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
$40,660
Kept after tax
$33,917
Worth in national money
$38,209
State rank
29
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Iowa is 29 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $40,660. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Iowa this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 404. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Iowa is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $40,660 the take-home is $33,917; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $38,209 would nationally. The average comes to $44,970, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Iowa ranks 29 of 51 for emergency medical technicians at $40,660. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Iowa reports, emergency medical technicians ranks 404 of 493, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Post-tax income for emergency medical technicians in Iowa, on $40,660, is $33,917 — equivalent to $38,209 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 $44,970 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Emergency Medical Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $40,660 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,080 |
| This salary | $40,660 |
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 | $33,917 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,850 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,346 |
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 | $39,498 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,837 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Iowa earn less than $40,660. The published range is $35,600 up to $60,080, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $33,917 take-home in Iowa comes from $40,660. 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 404 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $38,209, the adjusted value of that $40,660 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 404 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for emergency medical technicians in Iowa the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $35,600 to $60,080. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $33,917, from $40,660, 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 404 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 29 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $38,209 — the adjusted value of that $40,660 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 404 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 $44,970 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $35,600 at the bottom tenth to $60,080 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 $38,209.
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, $33,917 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $44,970. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($35,600 to $60,080) 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 $38,209 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 $33,917 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.