Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,480
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$11,510
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,741
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
$60,990
Kept after tax
$49,480
Worth in national money
$55,741
State rank
25
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Iowa pays this job around $60,990 at the midpoint, 25 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Iowa, this sits in the middle: 206 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Iowa is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $60,990 the take-home is $49,480; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $55,741 would nationally. The average lands at $60,790, below the middle of the range.
- For water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators the Iowa median is $60,990, ranking 25 of 50 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.
- Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators ranks 206 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.
- Post-tax income for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators in Iowa, on $60,990, is $49,480 — equivalent to $55,741 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 $60,790 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,880 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,990 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,040 |
| This salary | $60,990 |
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 | $49,480 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,185 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,068 |
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 | $58,867 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,710 |
| 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 water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators in Iowa earn under $60,990 and half over. The published range runs $46,880 at the tenth percentile to $76,040 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Iowa's $49,480, worked from $60,990. 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 206 of 493.
- Two cautions on $55,741, the adjusted value of that $60,990 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Iowa. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 206 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $46,880 to $76,040; 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.
- The Iowa take-home of $49,480, on $60,990 for work ranking 206 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 206 of 493 in the state.
- This $55,741 adjusted figure, worked from $60,990, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 206 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 206 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $46,880 at the tenth percentile, $76,040 at the ninetieth.
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 $55,741 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, $49,480 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 ($46,880 to $76,040) 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 $55,741 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 $49,480 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.