Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,334
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$8,096
17.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,185
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
$46,430
Kept after tax
$38,334
Worth in national money
$43,185
State rank
39
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Iowa pays this job a middle wage of $46,430, 39 of 49 states and about 5.69% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 350 among 493 occupations Iowa publishes pay for.
- Here is where Iowa does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $46,430 you keep $38,334, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $43,185 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $48,430, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Iowa's $46,430 median for insurance claims and policy processing clerks places it 39 of 49 states, about 5.69% 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 350 of 493 in Iowa places insurance claims and policy processing clerks 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.
- After federal, FICA and Iowa income tax, retained pay for insurance claims and policy processing clerks on $46,430 is $38,334. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $43,185 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 $48,430 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,270 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,530 |
| This salary | $46,430 |
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 | $38,334 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,487 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,551 |
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 | $44,996 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,085 |
| 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 $46,430. The published range is $38,270 up to $59,530, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $38,334 take-home in Iowa comes from $46,430. 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 350 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $43,185 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 350.
- Reported values are medians; for insurance claims and policy processing clerks in Iowa the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $38,270 to $59,530. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $38,334, from $46,430, 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 350 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 39 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $43,185, worked from $46,430, 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 350 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 $48,430, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $38,270 at the tenth percentile, $59,530 at the ninetieth.
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 $43,185 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 $38,334 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 $48,430. 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 ($38,270 to $59,530) 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 $43,185 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 $38,334 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.