Psychiatric Technicians in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,639
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$7,271
16.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,149
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
$42,910
Kept after tax
$35,639
Worth in national money
$40,149
State rank
28
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Iowa sits in the middle of the pack for psychiatric technicians. The median is $42,910, ranking 28 of 49 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Within Iowa this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, psychiatric technicians ranks 390. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $42,910 you keep $35,639 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $40,149 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $41,580.
- Iowa occupies the middle band for psychiatric technicians: a median of $42,910, ranking 28 of 49. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Against every occupation Iowa reports, psychiatric technicians ranks 390 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.
- Retained pay in Iowa is $35,639 after the full tax stack, from $42,910. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $40,149 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $41,580 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Psychiatric Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,370 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,910 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,310 |
| This salary | $42,910 |
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 | $35,639 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,658 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,426 |
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 | $41,642 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,933 |
| 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 psychiatric technicians in Iowa earn under $42,910 and half over. The published range runs $36,370 at the tenth percentile to $46,310 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $35,639 take-home in Iowa comes from $42,910. 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 390 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $40,149, the adjusted value of that $42,910 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 390 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for psychiatric technicians in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,370 to $46,310; 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 $35,639, from $42,910, 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 390 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 28 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $40,149 — the adjusted value of that $42,910 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 390 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 $41,580, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $36,370 at the tenth percentile, $46,310 at the ninetieth.
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 $40,149 in national terms.
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 $35,639.
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 49 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 $41,580. 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 ($36,370 to $46,310) 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 $40,149 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 $35,639 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.