Insurance Sales Agents in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,829
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$11,311
18.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,008
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
$60,140
Kept after tax
$48,829
Worth in national money
$55,008
State rank
35
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Iowa pays insurance sales agents a middle wage of $60,140, 35 of 51 states and about 3.44% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Iowa, this sits in the middle: 222 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 $60,140 the take-home is $48,829; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $55,008 would nationally. The average comes to $75,460, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Iowa's $60,140 median for insurance sales agents places it 35 of 51 states, about 3.44% 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.
- Insurance sales agents ranks 222 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 insurance sales agents in Iowa, on $60,140, is $48,829 — equivalent to $55,008 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 $75,460 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Insurance Sales Agents
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,140 |
| Top tenth earn over | $126,840 |
| This salary | $60,140 |
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 | $48,829 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,502 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,037 |
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 | $58,057 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,673 |
| 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 insurance sales agents in Iowa earn under $60,140 and half over. The published range runs $37,590 at the tenth percentile to $126,840 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Iowa's $48,829, worked from $60,140. 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 222 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $55,008, the adjusted value of that $60,140 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 222 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for insurance sales agents in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,590 to $126,840; 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.
- The Iowa take-home of $48,829, on $60,140 for work ranking 222 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 222 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $55,008 — the adjusted value of that $60,140 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 222 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 $75,460, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $37,590, the highest tenth $126,840, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Iowa is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $55,008 in national terms.
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 $48,829 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.
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 $75,460. 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 ($37,590) and the ninetieth ($126,840) 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 $55,008 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 $48,829 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.