Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,613
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$9,407
18.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,006
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
$52,020
Kept after tax
$42,613
Worth in national money
$48,006
State rank
30
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Iowa pays this job around $52,020 at the midpoint, 30 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Iowa, this sits in the middle: 278 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Iowa is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $52,020 the take-home is $42,613; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $48,006 would nationally. The average comes to $54,280, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For environmental science and protection technicians, including health the Iowa median is $52,020, ranking 30 of 49 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Environmental science and protection technicians, including health ranks 278 of 493 occupations in Iowa by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Post-tax income for environmental science and protection technicians, including health in Iowa, on $52,020, is $42,613 — equivalent to $48,006 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 $54,280 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,900 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $52,020 |
| Top tenth earn over | $80,390 |
| This salary | $52,020 |
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 | $42,613 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,978 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,749 |
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 | $50,321 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,325 |
| 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 $52,020. The published range is $37,900 up to $80,390, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Iowa's $42,613, worked from $52,020. 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 278 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $48,006 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 278.
- Reported values are medians; for environmental science and protection technicians, including health in Iowa the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $37,900 to $80,390. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Iowa take-home of $42,613, on $52,020 for work ranking 278 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 278 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $48,006, worked from $52,020, 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 278 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 $54,280 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 $37,900, the highest tenth $80,390, 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 $48,006 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $42,613 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $54,280. 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 ($37,900) and the ninetieth ($80,390) 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 $48,006 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 $42,613 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.