Museum Technicians and Conservators in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,399
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$9,341
18.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,764
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
$51,740
Kept after tax
$42,399
Worth in national money
$47,764
State rank
17
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Iowa sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $51,740, ranking 17 of 45 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Iowa, this sits in the middle: 281 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 $51,740 the take-home is $42,399; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $47,764 would nationally. The average comes to $55,010, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Iowa occupies the middle band for museum technicians and conservators: a median of $51,740, ranking 17 of 45. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Museum technicians and conservators ranks 281 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 museum technicians and conservators in Iowa, on $51,740, is $42,399 — equivalent to $47,764 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 $55,010 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Museum Technicians and Conservators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,370 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $51,740 |
| Top tenth earn over | $82,020 |
| This salary | $51,740 |
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 | $42,399 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,753 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,739 |
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 | $50,054 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,313 |
| 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 museum technicians and conservators in Iowa earn under $51,740 and half over. The published range runs $34,370 at the tenth percentile to $82,020 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Iowa's $42,399, worked from $51,740. 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 281 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $47,764 uses one figure for the whole of Iowa. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 281.
- Figures are distribution medians for museum technicians and conservators in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,370 to $82,020; 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.
- The Iowa take-home of $42,399, on $51,740 for work ranking 281 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 281 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $47,764, worked from $51,740, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Iowa address, on work sitting at 281 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $55,010, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $34,370, the highest tenth $82,020, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Iowa is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $47,764 in national terms.
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, $42,399 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 45 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $55,010. 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 ($34,370) and the ninetieth ($82,020) 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 $47,764 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 $42,399 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.