Printing Press Operators in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,017
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$6,773
16.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,321
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
$40,790
Kept after tax
$34,017
Worth in national money
$38,321
State rank
42
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Iowa pays printing press operators a middle wage of $40,790, 42 of 51 states and about 10.9% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Iowa this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, printing press operators ranks 403. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Iowa does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $40,790 you keep $34,017, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $38,321 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $42,860, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Iowa's $40,790 median for printing press operators places it 42 of 51 states, about 10.9% 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.
- Against every occupation Iowa reports, printing press operators ranks 403 of 493, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After federal, FICA and Iowa income tax, retained pay for printing press operators on $40,790 is $34,017. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $38,321 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $42,860 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Printing Press Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,130 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $40,790 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,190 |
| This salary | $40,790 |
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 | $34,017 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,955 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,350 |
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 | $39,622 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,842 |
| 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 printing press operators in Iowa earn under $40,790 and half over. The published range runs $30,130 at the tenth percentile to $59,190 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $34,017 take-home in Iowa comes from $40,790. 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 403 of 493.
- Two cautions on $38,321, the adjusted value of that $40,790 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 403 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for printing press operators in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,130 to $59,190; 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 $34,017, from $40,790, 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 403 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 42 of 51 for it.
- This $38,321 adjusted figure, worked from $40,790, 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 403 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 403 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $42,860, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $30,130 and the top tenth $59,190, so most people doing this work in Iowa sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $38,321 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, $34,017 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $42,860. 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 ($30,130 to $59,190) 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 $38,321 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 $34,017 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.