Physics Teachers, Postsecondary in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$78,833
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$25,437
24.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$88,809
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
$104,270
Kept after tax
$78,833
Worth in national money
$88,809
State rank
12
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for physics teachers, postsecondary is strong here. Iowa's middle earner gets $104,270, putting the state 12 of 47 — about 3.95% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Iowa this is well-paid work. Of 493 occupations with published figures in the state, physics teachers, postsecondary ranks 35 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $104,270 you keep $78,833 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $88,809 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $118,700, since top earners drag the number up.
- For physics teachers, postsecondary, Iowa sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $104,270, ranking 12 of 47 and running about 3.95% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Ranked against every occupation Iowa publishes a median for, physics teachers, postsecondary sits 35 of 493 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Retained pay in Iowa is $78,833 after the full tax stack, from $104,270. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $88,809 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $118,700 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Physics Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $66,490 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $104,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $222,150 |
| This salary | $104,270 |
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 | $78,833 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $82,184 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,236 |
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 | $99,507 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,852 |
| 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 physics teachers, postsecondary in Iowa earn under $104,270 and half over. The published range runs $66,490 at the tenth percentile to $222,150 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Iowa the take-home figure of $78,833, from $104,270, 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 35 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $88,809, the adjusted value of that $104,270 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 35 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for physics teachers, postsecondary in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $66,490 to $222,150; 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.
- Take-home for Iowa is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $78,833 from $104,270. 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 35 of 493 locally.
- This $88,809 adjusted figure, worked from $104,270, 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 35 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 35 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $118,700 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $66,490 and the top tenth $222,150 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $88,809 in national terms.
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 $78,833 of this wage survives to your account.
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 47 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 $118,700. 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 ($66,490) and the ninetieth ($222,150) 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 $88,809 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 $78,833 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.