Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$22,425
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$3,295
12.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$25,263
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
$25,720
Kept after tax
$22,425
Worth in national money
$25,263
State rank
47
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Iowa. The middle earner gets $25,720. That is 47 of 50 states, and about 21.85% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 493 occupations Iowa publishes, this job lands at 489. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Iowa is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $25,720 the take-home is $22,425; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $25,263 would nationally. The average comes to $26,320, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For ushers, lobby attendants, and ticket takers, Iowa sits in the lower band at $25,720, ranking 47 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 21.85%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Iowa, this work ranks 489 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.
- Post-tax income for ushers, lobby attendants, and ticket takers in Iowa, on $25,720, is $22,425 — equivalent to $25,263 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 $26,320 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $21,390 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $25,720 |
| Top tenth earn over | $33,220 |
| This salary | $25,720 |
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 | $22,425 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $22,790 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,810 |
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 | $25,276 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,135 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $25,720 as a midpoint for Iowa, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $21,390 and the ninetieth is $33,220 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $22,425 take-home in Iowa comes from $25,720. 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 489 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Iowa, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $25,263, the adjusted value of that $25,720 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 489 of 493 in the state.
- The Iowa median of $25,720 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $21,390 to $33,220. 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 $22,425, from $25,720, 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 489 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 47 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Iowa, so $25,263 — the adjusted value of that $25,720 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 489 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $21,390 and the top tenth $33,220, so most people doing this work in Iowa sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Iowa is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $25,263 in national terms.
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, $22,425 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($21,390 to $33,220) 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 $25,263 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 $22,425 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.