Interior Designers in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,221
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$10,819
18.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,197
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
$58,040
Kept after tax
$47,221
Worth in national money
$53,197
State rank
47
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Iowa is among the lower-paying states for interior designers. The middle earner takes $58,040, ranking 47 of 49 states — about 13.62% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Interior designers ranks 243 among 493 occupations Iowa publishes pay for.
- Iowa is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $58,040 the take-home is $47,221; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $53,197 would nationally. The average comes to $68,360, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Iowa ranks 47 of 49 for interior designers, with a median of $58,040 — about 13.62% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Position 243 of 493 in Iowa places interior designers 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.
- Post-tax income for interior designers in Iowa, on $58,040, is $47,221 — equivalent to $53,197 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 $68,360 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Interior Designers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,510 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $118,770 |
| This salary | $58,040 |
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 | $47,221 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,815 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,963 |
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 | $56,057 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,583 |
| 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 interior designers in Iowa earn under $58,040 and half over. The published range runs $39,510 at the tenth percentile to $118,770 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $47,221 take-home in Iowa comes from $58,040. 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 243 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $53,197, the adjusted value of that $58,040 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 243 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for interior designers in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $39,510 to $118,770; 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 $47,221, from $58,040, 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 243 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 47 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $53,197 — the adjusted value of that $58,040 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 243 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 $68,360, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $39,510 and the top tenth $118,770 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $53,197 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $47,221 remains.
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 $68,360. 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 ($39,510) and the ninetieth ($118,770) 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 $53,197 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 $47,221 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.