Technical Writers in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,711
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$12,809
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,508
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
$66,520
Kept after tax
$53,711
Worth in national money
$60,508
State rank
41
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for technical writers is on the low side in Iowa. The middle earner gets $66,520. That is 41 of 45 states, and about 26.41% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Iowa, this sits in the middle: 165 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Iowa does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $66,520 you keep $53,711, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $60,508 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $72,130, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For technical writers, Iowa sits in the lower band at $66,520, ranking 41 of 45 and trailing the national median by about 26.41%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Technical writers ranks 165 of 493 occupations in Iowa by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and Iowa income tax, retained pay for technical writers on $66,520 is $53,711. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $60,508 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 $72,130 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Technical Writers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $52,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $66,520 |
| Top tenth earn over | $98,970 |
| This salary | $66,520 |
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 | $53,711 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,627 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,264 |
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 | $64,133 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,508 |
| 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 technical writers in Iowa earn under $66,520 and half over. The published range runs $52,750 at the tenth percentile to $98,970 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $53,711 take-home in Iowa comes from $66,520. 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 165 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $60,508, the adjusted value of that $66,520 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 165 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for technical writers in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $52,750 to $98,970; 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 $53,711, from $66,520, 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 165 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 45 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $60,508 — the adjusted value of that $66,520 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 165 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 $72,130, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $52,750 and the top tenth $98,970, so most people doing this work in Iowa sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $60,508 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $53,711 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $72,130. 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 ($52,750 to $98,970) 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 $60,508 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 $53,711 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.