Median pay · Iowa
$58,440A year, or $28 an hour.| Percentile | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile1 in 10 earn less | $31,620 | $15 |
| 25th percentile | $39,550 | $19 |
| MedianHalf earn more, half less | $58,440 | $28 |
| 75th percentile | $76,040 | $37 |
| 90th percentile1 in 10 earn more | $86,600 | $42 |
| MeanAll pay divided by all jobs | $58,520 | $28 |
Wage survey · BLS May 2025
How we got this
- Median wage in IowaBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$58,440
- Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$28.09
- Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$3,964 a month at an effective rate of 18.6%.$47,568 a year
- Worth at national average pricesPrices in Iowa sit at 87.8 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$66,589
- Against the national medianThe national median is $68,270.14.4% below
- Jobs countedA concentration of 1.32 against the nation's 1.00.1,770
What we assumed
- Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
- OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
- Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
- Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details
Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1
What lands in the bank
Tax year 2026 · InteractiveEstimated on the median salary of $58,440 in Iowa, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.
Run the numbers on your own pay
Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.
What $58,440 is worth in Iowa
Prices in Iowa sit at 87.8 against a national average of 100, so $58,440 earned here buys what $66,589 buys at national average prices.
- Rents. 65.3 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
- Against local households. The median household in Iowa takes in $75,059, so this occupation's median is 0.78 times that, on one income.
- How common the job is here. 32% more concentrated in Iowa than in the country as a whole.
Reading the numbers
What stands out for librarians and media collections specialists in Iowa
Rents in Iowa index at 65.3 (U.S. = 100) while prices overall index at 87.8, a gap of -22.4 pts. For a renter, housing moves the local cost of living more than anything else.
Prices in Iowa index at 87.8 (U.S. = 100), so the $58,440 median buys roughly what $66,589 would at national prices, $8,149 more.
The gap between the ends is wide: the 90th percentile ($86,600) is 2.7 times the 10th ($31,620). The survey does not say who sits where in that range. It records no experience, shift or employer.
Common questions
Librarians and Media Collections Specialists pay in Iowa, answered
How much do librarians and media collections specialists make in Iowa?
The median wage for librarians and media collections specialists in Iowa is $58,440 a year, or $28.09 an hour.
Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.
What is the average Librarians and Media Collections Specialists salary in Iowa?
BLS’s mean (average) wage for librarians and media collections specialists in Iowa is $58,520 a year. The median is $58,440.
The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.
What is the hourly pay for librarians and media collections specialists in Iowa?
The median hourly wage is $28.09. At a full-time year that lines up with about $58,440 a year.
BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.
What is the starting salary for librarians and media collections specialists in Iowa?
BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Iowa, the lowest-paid 10% of librarians and media collections specialists earn under $31,620 a year and a quarter earn under $39,550 ($15.20 and $19.02 an hour).
New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.
What is the salary range for librarians and media collections specialists in Iowa?
The overall salary range for librarians and media collections specialists in Iowa spans from $31,620 for the bottom 10% to $86,600 for top earners.
The middle 50% earn between $39,550 and $76,040 a year, with the overall median at $58,440.
What is the take-home pay for librarians and media collections specialists in Iowa?
On the median wage of $58,440, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $47,568 a year, or roughly $3,964 a month.
That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 18.6%.
Iowa takes $1,569 of it in state income tax.
How much does librarians and media collections specialists make a month in Iowa?
On the median annual salary of $58,440, estimated take-home pay is roughly $3,964 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.
For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $1,830 net.
Do librarians and media collections specialists earn more in Iowa than in the rest of the country?
No. The median in Iowa is 14.4% below the national median of $68,270.
Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Iowa sit at 87.8 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.
Is $58,440 a good salary in Iowa?
It is 0.78 times the median household income of $75,059. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.
Prices in Iowa run at 87.8 against a national average of 100, with rents at 65.3, so $58,440 here buys about what $66,589 buys at national average prices.
What do the highest-paid librarians and media collections specialists earn in Iowa?
The top tenth earn $86,600 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $31,620.
Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Iowa someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.
How many librarians and media collections specialists are there in Iowa?
The survey counted 1,770 of these jobs in Iowa for May 2025.
That makes the occupation 32% more concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.