Medical Equipment Preparers in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,358
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$6,572
16.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,580
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
$39,930
Kept after tax
$33,358
Worth in national money
$37,580
State rank
45
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Iowa is among the lower-paying states for medical equipment preparers. The middle earner takes $39,930, ranking 45 of 51 states — about 16.29% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Iowa, this one sits low: 408 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $39,930 you keep $33,358 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $37,580 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $43,710, since top earners drag the number up.
- Iowa ranks 45 of 51 for medical equipment preparers, with a median of $39,930 — about 16.29% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Medical equipment preparers occupies position 408 of 493 in Iowa's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay in Iowa is $33,358 after the full tax stack, from $39,930. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $37,580 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $43,710 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Medical Equipment Preparers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,070 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,930 |
| Top tenth earn over | $52,300 |
| This salary | $39,930 |
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 | $33,358 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,264 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,320 |
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 | $38,803 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,805 |
| 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 $39,930. The published range is $37,070 up to $52,300, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Iowa the take-home figure of $33,358, from $39,930, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 408 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $37,580, the adjusted value of that $39,930 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 408 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for medical equipment preparers in Iowa the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $37,070 to $52,300. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Iowa is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $33,358 from $39,930. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 408 of 493 locally.
- This $37,580 adjusted figure, worked from $39,930, 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 408 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 408 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 $43,710, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $37,070 at the tenth percentile, $52,300 at the ninetieth.
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 $37,580 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $33,358 remains.
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.
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 $43,710. 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 ($37,070 to $52,300) 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 $37,580 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 $33,358 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.