Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,411
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$5,669
15.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,259
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
$36,080
Kept after tax
$30,411
Worth in national money
$34,259
State rank
25
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Iowa pays home health and personal care aides around $36,080 at the midpoint, 25 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 493 occupations Iowa publishes, home health and personal care aides lands at 447. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Iowa does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $36,080 you keep $30,411, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $34,259 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $36,940, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For home health and personal care aides the Iowa median is $36,080, ranking 25 of 51 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.
- Within Iowa, this work ranks 447 of 493 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and Iowa income tax, retained pay for home health and personal care aides on $36,080 is $30,411. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $34,259 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $36,940 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Home Health and Personal Care Aides
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,420 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,080 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,490 |
| This salary | $36,080 |
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 | $30,411 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,170 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,183 |
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 | $35,135 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,640 |
| 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 home health and personal care aides in Iowa earn under $36,080 and half over. The published range runs $30,420 at the tenth percentile to $45,490 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Iowa the take-home figure of $30,411, from $36,080, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 447 of 493 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $34,259 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 447.
- Figures are distribution medians for home health and personal care aides in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,420 to $45,490; 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.
- Take-home for Iowa is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $30,411 from $36,080. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 447 of 493 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $34,259, worked from $36,080, 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 447 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $30,420 and the top tenth $45,490, so most people doing this work in Iowa sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $34,259 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 $30,411 of this wage survives to your account.
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 ($30,420 to $45,490) 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 $34,259 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 $30,411 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.