Medical Assistants in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,607
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$7,873
17.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,366
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
$45,480
Kept after tax
$37,607
Worth in national money
$42,366
State rank
24
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Iowa is 24 of 51 states for medical assistants, with a middle wage of $45,480. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Iowa, this sits in the middle: 366 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Iowa is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $45,480 the take-home is $37,607; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $42,366 would nationally. The average lands at $44,930, below the middle of the range.
- Iowa ranks 24 of 51 for medical assistants at $45,480. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Medical assistants ranks 366 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.
- Post-tax income for medical assistants in Iowa, on $45,480, is $37,607 — equivalent to $42,366 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 $44,930 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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: Medical Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,480 |
| Top tenth earn over | $54,960 |
| This salary | $45,480 |
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 | $37,607 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,723 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,517 |
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 | $44,091 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,044 |
| 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 $45,480. The published range is $36,730 up to $54,960, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $37,607 take-home in Iowa comes from $45,480. 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 366 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $42,366, the adjusted value of that $45,480 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 366 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for medical assistants in Iowa the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $36,730 to $54,960. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $37,607, from $45,480, 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 366 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 24 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $42,366 — the adjusted value of that $45,480 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 366 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $36,730 at the tenth percentile, $54,960 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 $42,366.
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 $37,607 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($36,730 to $54,960) 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 $42,366 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 $37,607 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.