Power Plant Operators in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$76,325
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$24,175
24.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$85,983
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
$100,500
Kept after tax
$76,325
Worth in national money
$85,983
State rank
28
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Iowa is 28 of 49 states for power plant operators, with a middle wage of $100,500. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Iowa this is well-paid work. Of 493 occupations with published figures in the state, power plant operators ranks 44 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Iowa is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $100,500 the take-home is $76,325; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $85,983 would nationally. The average lands at $93,580, below the middle of the range.
- Iowa ranks 28 of 49 for power plant operators at $100,500. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Ranked against every occupation Iowa publishes a median for, power plant operators sits 44 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.
- Post-tax income for power plant operators in Iowa, on $100,500, is $76,325 — equivalent to $85,983 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 $93,580 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Power Plant Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $63,320 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,500 |
| Top tenth earn over | $109,690 |
| This salary | $100,500 |
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 | $76,325 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,532 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,139 |
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 | $95,941 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,717 |
| 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 power plant operators in Iowa earn under $100,500 and half over. The published range runs $63,320 at the tenth percentile to $109,690 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $76,325 take-home in Iowa comes from $100,500. 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 44 of 493.
- Two cautions on $85,983, the adjusted value of that $100,500 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 44 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for power plant operators in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $63,320 to $109,690; 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 $76,325, from $100,500, 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 44 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 28 of 49 for it.
- This $85,983 adjusted figure, worked from $100,500, 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 44 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 44 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 $93,580 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $63,320 at the bottom tenth to $109,690 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $85,983.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Iowa then takes its own share, leaving $76,325.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 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 $93,580. 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 ($63,320 to $109,690) 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 $85,983 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 $76,325 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.