Receptionists and Information Clerks in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,368
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$5,962
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,337
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
$37,330
Kept after tax
$31,368
Worth in national money
$35,337
State rank
27
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Iowa pays this job around $37,330 at the midpoint, 27 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 493 occupations Iowa publishes, this job lands at 433. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Iowa does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $37,330 you keep $31,368, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $35,337 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $37,440, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For receptionists and information clerks the Iowa median is $37,330, ranking 27 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Iowa, this work ranks 433 of 493 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and Iowa income tax, retained pay for receptionists and information clerks on $37,330 is $31,368. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $35,337 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 $37,440 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Receptionists and Information Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $26,740 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,330 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,610 |
| This salary | $37,330 |
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 | $31,368 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,175 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,227 |
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 | $36,326 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,694 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Iowa earn less than $37,330. The published range is $26,740 up to $47,610, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $31,368 take-home in Iowa comes from $37,330. 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 433 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $35,337, the adjusted value of that $37,330 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 433 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for receptionists and information clerks in Iowa the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $26,740 to $47,610. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $31,368, from $37,330, 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 433 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 27 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $35,337 — the adjusted value of that $37,330 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 433 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $26,740 at the bottom tenth to $47,610 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 $35,337.
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 $31,368 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($26,740 to $47,610) 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 $35,337 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 $31,368 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.