Residential Advisors in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,000
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$5,850
15.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,923
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
$36,850
Kept after tax
$31,000
Worth in national money
$34,923
State rank
40
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Iowa pays residential advisors a middle wage of $36,850, 40 of 51 states and about 12.76% 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, residential advisors ranks 442. 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 $36,850 you keep $31,000, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $34,923 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $39,960, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Iowa's $36,850 median for residential advisors places it 40 of 51 states, about 12.76% 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, residential advisors ranks 442 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 residential advisors on $36,850 is $31,000. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $34,923 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 $39,960 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Residential Advisors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,090 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,850 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,780 |
| This salary | $36,850 |
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 | $31,000 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,789 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,210 |
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 | $35,869 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,673 |
| 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 $36,850. The published range is $31,090 up to $49,780, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $31,000 take-home in Iowa comes from $36,850. 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 442 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $34,923, the adjusted value of that $36,850 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 442 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for residential advisors in Iowa the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,090 to $49,780. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $31,000, from $36,850, 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 442 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 40 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $34,923 — the adjusted value of that $36,850 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 442 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $39,960, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $31,090 at the tenth percentile, $49,780 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Iowa sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $34,923 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $31,000 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.
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 $39,960. 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 ($31,090 to $49,780) 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 $34,923 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 $31,000 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.