Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,995
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$15,465
20.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$66,460
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
$74,460
Kept after tax
$58,995
Worth in national money
$66,460
State rank
45
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Iowa pays this job a middle wage of $74,460, 45 of 50 states and about 26.94% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 141 among 493 occupations Iowa publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $74,460 you keep $58,995 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $66,460 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $77,720, since top earners drag the number up.
- Iowa's $74,460 median for geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers places it 45 of 50 states, about 26.94% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 141 of 493 in Iowa places geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers 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 $58,995 after the full tax stack, from $74,460. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $66,460 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $77,720 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $61,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $74,460 |
| Top tenth earn over | $95,540 |
| This salary | $74,460 |
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 | $58,995 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,213 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,468 |
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 | $71,308 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,791 |
| 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 $74,460. The published range is $61,730 up to $95,540, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $58,995 take-home in Iowa comes from $74,460. 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 141 of 493.
- Two cautions on $66,460, the adjusted value of that $74,460 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 141 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers in Iowa the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $61,730 to $95,540. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $58,995, from $74,460, 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 141 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 45 of 50 for it.
- This $66,460 adjusted figure, worked from $74,460, 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 141 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 141 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 $77,720, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $61,730 and the top tenth $95,540, so most people doing this work in Iowa sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $66,460.
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, $58,995 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $77,720. 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 ($61,730 to $95,540) 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 $66,460 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 $58,995 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.