Travel Agents in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,576
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$7,864
17.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,331
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
$45,440
Kept after tax
$37,576
Worth in national money
$42,331
State rank
40
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Iowa pays travel agents a middle wage of $45,440, 40 of 49 states and about 9.41% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Iowa, this sits in the middle: 367 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 $45,440 you keep $37,576, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $42,331 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $46,950, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Iowa's $45,440 median for travel agents places it 40 of 49 states, about 9.41% 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.
- Travel agents ranks 367 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 travel agents on $45,440 is $37,576. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $42,331 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 $46,950 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: Travel Agents
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,710 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,440 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,180 |
| This salary | $45,440 |
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 | $37,576 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,691 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,515 |
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 | $44,052 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,042 |
| 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 $45,440. The published range is $32,710 up to $62,180, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Iowa's $37,576, worked from $45,440. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 367 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $42,331, the adjusted value of that $45,440 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 367 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for travel agents in Iowa the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $32,710 to $62,180. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Iowa take-home of $37,576, on $45,440 for work ranking 367 of 493 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 367 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $42,331 — the adjusted value of that $45,440 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 367 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $46,950 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $32,710 at the tenth percentile, $62,180 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 $42,331 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, $37,576 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 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 $46,950. 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 ($32,710 to $62,180) 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 $42,331 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 $37,576 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.