News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,122
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$7,418
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,693
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
$43,540
Kept after tax
$36,122
Worth in national money
$40,693
State rank
40
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Iowa. The middle earner gets $43,540. That is 40 of 48 states, and about 30% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 493 occupations Iowa publishes, this job lands at 386. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Iowa is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $43,540 the take-home is $36,122; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $40,693 would nationally. The average comes to $51,320, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For news analysts, reporters, and journalists, Iowa sits in the lower band at $43,540, ranking 40 of 48 and trailing the national median by about 30%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Iowa, this work ranks 386 of 493 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Post-tax income for news analysts, reporters, and journalists in Iowa, on $43,540, is $36,122 — equivalent to $40,693 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 $51,320 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,160 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,540 |
| Top tenth earn over | $82,950 |
| This salary | $43,540 |
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 | $36,122 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,164 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,448 |
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 | $42,242 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,960 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $43,540 as a midpoint for Iowa, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,160 and the ninetieth is $82,950 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Iowa the take-home figure of $36,122, from $43,540, 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 386 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $40,693, the adjusted value of that $43,540 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 386 of 493 locally.
- The Iowa median of $43,540 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,160 to $82,950. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Iowa is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $36,122 from $43,540. 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 386 of 493 locally.
- This $40,693 adjusted figure, worked from $43,540, 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 386 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 386 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 $51,320, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $33,160 at the bottom tenth to $82,950 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $40,693.
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, $36,122 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $51,320. 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 ($33,160) and the ninetieth ($82,950) 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 $40,693 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 $36,122 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.