Occupational Health and Safety Technicians in Iowa

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,420
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$10,880
18.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,421
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
$58,300
Kept after tax
$47,420
Worth in national money
$53,421
State rank
39
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Iowa pays this job a middle wage of $58,300, 39 of 48 states and about 5.3% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 239 among 493 occupations Iowa publishes pay for.
- Iowa is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $58,300 the take-home is $47,420; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $53,421 would nationally. The average comes to $61,680, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Iowa's $58,300 median for occupational health and safety technicians places it 39 of 48 states, about 5.3% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 239 of 493 in Iowa places occupational health and safety technicians in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Post-tax income for occupational health and safety technicians in Iowa, on $58,300, is $47,420 — equivalent to $53,421 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 $61,680 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Occupational Health and Safety Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,700 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,300 |
| Top tenth earn over | $82,170 |
| This salary | $58,300 |
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 | $47,420 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,024 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,972 |
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 | $56,304 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,594 |
| 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 occupational health and safety technicians in Iowa earn under $58,300 and half over. The published range runs $45,700 at the tenth percentile to $82,170 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $47,420 take-home in Iowa comes from $58,300. 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 239 of 493.
- Two cautions on $53,421, the adjusted value of that $58,300 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 239 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for occupational health and safety technicians in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $45,700 to $82,170; 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.
- Retained pay of $47,420, from $58,300, 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 239 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 39 of 48 for it.
- This $53,421 adjusted figure, worked from $58,300, 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 239 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 239 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 $61,680, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $45,700 at the tenth percentile, $82,170 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 $53,421.
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 $47,420 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $61,680. 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 ($45,700 to $82,170) 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 $53,421 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 $47,420 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.