Marriage and Family Therapists in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$54,150
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$13,030
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$61,003
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
$67,180
Kept after tax
$54,150
Worth in national money
$61,003
State rank
17
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Iowa is 17 of 45 states for marriage and family therapists, with a middle wage of $67,180. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Iowa, this sits in the middle: 159 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Iowa does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $67,180 you keep $54,150, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $61,003 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $72,120, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Iowa ranks 17 of 45 for marriage and family therapists at $67,180. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Marriage and family therapists ranks 159 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.
- After federal, FICA and Iowa income tax, retained pay for marriage and family therapists on $67,180 is $54,150. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $61,003 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 $72,120 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Marriage and Family Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,680 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $67,180 |
| Top tenth earn over | $127,720 |
| This salary | $67,180 |
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 | $54,150 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $56,091 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,281 |
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 | $64,680 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,532 |
| 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 marriage and family therapists in Iowa earn under $67,180 and half over. The published range runs $42,680 at the tenth percentile to $127,720 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $54,150 take-home in Iowa comes from $67,180. 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 159 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $61,003, the adjusted value of that $67,180 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 159 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for marriage and family therapists in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $42,680 to $127,720; 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 $54,150, from $67,180, 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 159 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 17 of 45 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $61,003 — the adjusted value of that $67,180 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 159 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 $72,120, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $42,680, the highest tenth $127,720, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $61,003 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $54,150.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $72,120. 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 ($42,680) and the ninetieth ($127,720) 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 $61,003 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 $54,150 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.