Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,854
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$7,336
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,391
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
$43,190
Kept after tax
$35,854
Worth in national money
$40,391
State rank
12
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Iowa is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $43,190, which ranks 12 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 12.77% above the national middle.
- Within Iowa this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 388. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Iowa is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $43,190 the take-home is $35,854; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $40,391 would nationally. The average lands at $42,560, below the middle of the range.
- Iowa ranks 12 of 50 states publishing a median for meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers, at $43,190 — about 12.77% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Against every occupation Iowa reports, meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers ranks 388 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.
- Post-tax income for meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers in Iowa, on $43,190, is $35,854 — equivalent to $40,391 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 $42,560 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,170 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,190 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,220 |
| This salary | $43,190 |
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 | $35,854 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,883 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,435 |
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 | $41,909 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,945 |
| 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 meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers in Iowa earn under $43,190 and half over. The published range runs $39,170 at the tenth percentile to $46,220 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $35,854 take-home in Iowa comes from $43,190. 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 388 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $40,391, the adjusted value of that $43,190 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 388 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $39,170 to $46,220; 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 $35,854, from $43,190, 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 388 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 12 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $40,391 — the adjusted value of that $43,190 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 388 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $39,170 at the bottom tenth to $46,220 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $40,391.
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, $35,854 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($39,170 to $46,220) 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 $40,391 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 $35,854 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.