Teachers and Instructors, All Other in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$44,190
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$9,890
18.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,782
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
$54,080
Kept after tax
$44,190
Worth in national money
$49,782
State rank
39
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Iowa pays teachers and instructors, all other a middle wage of $54,080, 39 of 50 states and about 18.23% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Iowa reports figures for, this is number 267.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $54,080 you keep $44,190 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $49,782 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $57,730, since top earners drag the number up.
- Iowa's $54,080 median for teachers and instructors, all other places it 39 of 50 states, about 18.23% 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.
- In Iowa's occupational distribution, teachers and instructors, all other sits at 267 of 493 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay in Iowa is $44,190 after the full tax stack, from $54,080. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $49,782 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $57,730 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Teachers and Instructors, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,210 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $54,080 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,000 |
| This salary | $54,080 |
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 | $44,190 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $45,633 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,822 |
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 | $52,284 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,413 |
| 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 teachers and instructors, all other in Iowa earn under $54,080 and half over. The published range runs $49,210 at the tenth percentile to $78,000 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $44,190 take-home in Iowa comes from $54,080. 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 267 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $49,782, the adjusted value of that $54,080 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 267 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for teachers and instructors, all other in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $49,210 to $78,000; 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 $44,190, from $54,080, 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 267 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 39 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $49,782 — the adjusted value of that $54,080 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 267 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 $57,730, 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 — $49,210 at the tenth percentile, $78,000 at the ninetieth.
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 $49,782.
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, $44,190 remains.
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 $57,730. 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 ($49,210 to $78,000) 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 $49,782 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 $44,190 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.