Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,522
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$10,298
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,283
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
$55,820
Kept after tax
$45,522
Worth in national money
$51,283
State rank
10
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Iowa is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $55,820, which ranks 10 of 48 states with published figures. That is about 13.64% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 260 among 493 occupations Iowa publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $55,820 you keep $45,522 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $51,283 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $57,770, since top earners drag the number up.
- Iowa ranks 10 of 48 states publishing a median for insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall, at $55,820 — about 13.64% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Position 260 of 493 in Iowa places insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall 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 $45,522 after the full tax stack, from $55,820. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $51,283 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $57,770 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,210 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,820 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,170 |
| This salary | $55,820 |
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 | $45,522 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,031 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,884 |
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 | $53,942 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,488 |
| 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 insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall in Iowa earn under $55,820 and half over. The published range runs $42,210 at the tenth percentile to $75,170 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $45,522 take-home in Iowa comes from $55,820. 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 260 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $51,283, the adjusted value of that $55,820 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 260 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $42,210 to $75,170; 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.
- Retained pay of $45,522, from $55,820, 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 260 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 10 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $51,283 — the adjusted value of that $55,820 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 260 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $57,770, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $42,210 at the bottom tenth to $75,170 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $51,283 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 $45,522 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 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 $57,770. 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 ($42,210 to $75,170) 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 $51,283 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 $45,522 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.