Mechanical Engineers in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$74,461
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$23,239
23.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$83,884
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
$97,700
Kept after tax
$74,461
Worth in national money
$83,884
State rank
42
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for mechanical engineers is on the low side in Iowa. The middle earner gets $97,700. That is 42 of 51 states, and about 6.16% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Iowa. It ranks 51 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $97,700 you keep $74,461 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $83,884 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $99,230, since top earners drag the number up.
- For mechanical engineers, Iowa sits in the lower band at $97,700, ranking 42 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 6.16%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Iowa, mechanical engineers ranks 51 of 493 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in Iowa is $74,461 after the full tax stack, from $97,700. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $83,884 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $99,230 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Mechanical Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $71,050 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $97,700 |
| Top tenth earn over | $137,540 |
| This salary | $97,700 |
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 | $74,461 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $77,562 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,067 |
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 | $93,292 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,618 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Iowa earn less than $97,700. The published range is $71,050 up to $137,540, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Iowa's $74,461, worked from $97,700. 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 51 of 493.
- Two cautions on $83,884, the adjusted value of that $97,700 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Iowa. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 51 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for mechanical engineers in Iowa the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $71,050 to $137,540. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Iowa take-home of $74,461, on $97,700 for work ranking 51 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 51 of 493 in the state.
- This $83,884 adjusted figure, worked from $97,700, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 51 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 51 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $71,050 at the bottom tenth to $137,540 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $83,884 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $74,461 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($71,050 to $137,540) 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 $83,884 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 $74,461 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.