Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,616
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$6,344
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,743
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
$38,960
Kept after tax
$32,616
Worth in national money
$36,743
State rank
30
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Iowa pays this job around $38,960 at the midpoint, 30 of 45 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 493 occupations Iowa publishes, this job lands at 414. 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 $38,960 you keep $32,616, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $36,743 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $43,760, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For teaching assistants, postsecondary the Iowa median is $38,960, ranking 30 of 45 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 414 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 teaching assistants, postsecondary on $38,960 is $32,616. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $36,743 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 $43,760 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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: Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $22,790 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,960 |
| Top tenth earn over | $66,080 |
| This salary | $38,960 |
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 | $32,616 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,484 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,285 |
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 | $37,879 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,764 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $38,960 as a midpoint for Iowa, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $22,790 and the ninetieth is $66,080 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $32,616 take-home in Iowa comes from $38,960. 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 414 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $36,743 uses one figure for the whole of Iowa. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 414.
- The Iowa median of $38,960 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $22,790 to $66,080. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $32,616, from $38,960, 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 414 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 30 of 45 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $36,743, worked from $38,960, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Iowa address, on work sitting at 414 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 $43,760, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $22,790, the highest tenth $66,080, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $36,743.
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, $32,616 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 45 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $43,760. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($22,790) and the ninetieth ($66,080) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $36,743 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 $32,616 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.