Legal Support Workers, All Other in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,834
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$7,636
17.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,495
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
$44,470
Kept after tax
$36,834
Worth in national money
$41,495
State rank
45
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Iowa pays legal support workers, all other a middle wage of $44,470, 45 of 45 states and about 38.33% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Iowa this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, legal support workers, all other ranks 379. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $44,470 you keep $36,834 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $41,495 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $52,600, since top earners drag the number up.
- Iowa's $44,470 median for legal support workers, all other places it 45 of 45 states, about 38.33% 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.
- Against every occupation Iowa reports, legal support workers, all other ranks 379 of 493, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in Iowa is $36,834 after the full tax stack, from $44,470. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $41,495 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $52,600 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Legal Support Workers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,470 |
| Top tenth earn over | $69,530 |
| This salary | $44,470 |
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 | $36,834 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,912 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,481 |
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 | $43,128 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,000 |
| 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 legal support workers, all other in Iowa earn under $44,470 and half over. The published range runs $38,670 at the tenth percentile to $69,530 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $36,834 take-home in Iowa comes from $44,470. 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 379 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $41,495 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 379.
- Figures are distribution medians for legal support workers, all other in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,670 to $69,530; 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 $36,834, from $44,470, 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 379 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 45 of 45 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $41,495, worked from $44,470, 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 379 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $52,600 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $38,670 at the tenth percentile, $69,530 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $41,495.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Iowa then takes its own share, leaving $36,834.
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 45 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 $52,600. 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 ($38,670 to $69,530) 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 $41,495 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 $36,834 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.