Structural Iron and Steel Workers in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,952
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$16,449
21.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,665
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
$77,400
Kept after tax
$60,952
Worth in national money
$68,665
State rank
14
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Iowa pays structural iron and steel workers a middle wage of $77,400, ranking 14 of 50 states and sitting about 23.29% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 493 occupations Iowa reports, structural iron and steel workers comes in at 123 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Iowa is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $77,400 the take-home is $60,952; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $68,665 would nationally. The average lands at $73,110, below the middle of the range.
- Iowa's median for structural iron and steel workers is $77,400, about 23.29% above the national figure and 14 of 50 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Structural iron and steel workers ranks 123 of 493 occupations by median in Iowa, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Post-tax income for structural iron and steel workers in Iowa, on $77,400, is $60,952 — equivalent to $68,665 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 $73,110 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Structural Iron and Steel Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $59,120 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,240 |
| This salary | $77,400 |
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 | $60,952 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,281 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,544 |
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 | $74,089 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,895 |
| 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 structural iron and steel workers in Iowa earn under $77,400 and half over. The published range runs $59,120 at the tenth percentile to $81,240 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $60,952 take-home in Iowa comes from $77,400. 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 123 of 493.
- Two cautions on $68,665, the adjusted value of that $77,400 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 123 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for structural iron and steel workers in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $59,120 to $81,240; 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 $60,952, from $77,400, 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 123 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 14 of 50 for it.
- This $68,665 adjusted figure, worked from $77,400, 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 123 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 123 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 $73,110, 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 $59,120 and the top tenth $81,240, so most people doing this work in Iowa sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $68,665.
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 $60,952 of this wage survives to your account.
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 50 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 $73,110. 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 ($59,120 to $81,240) 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 $68,665 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 $60,952 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.