Iowa · BLS May 2025
Also called server. SOC 35-3031.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 22,410 waiters and waitresses working in Iowa. Here is what they are paid, what the median leaves after federal, state and FICA tax, and what that is worth against local prices.
Median pay · Iowa
$21,000A year, or $10.10 an hour.| Percentile | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentileEntry and lowest-paid | $15,080 | $7.25 |
| 25th percentile | $15,080 | $7.25 |
| MedianHalf earn more, half less | $21,000 | $10.10 |
| 75th percentile | $35,370 | $17.00 |
| 90th percentileMost experienced and senior | $47,980 | $23.07 |
| MeanThe average, pulled up by the top | $26,940 | $12.95 |
Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1
A $21,000 salary in Iowa, for one single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026.
Prices in Iowa sit at 87.8 against a national average of 100, so $21,000 earned here buys what $23,928 buys at national average prices.
Common questions
The median wage for waiters or waitresses in Iowa is $21,000 a year, or $10.10 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.
On the median wage of $21,000, one filer taking the standard deduction keeps about $18,757 a year, or roughly $1,563 a month.
That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 10.7%.
Iowa takes $146 of it in state income tax.
No. The median in Iowa is 40.4% below the national median of $35,230.
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.
It is 0.28 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 $21,000 here buys about what $23,928 buys at national average prices.
The top tenth earn $47,980 a year or more, against $15,080 at the bottom tenth.
Experience, specialism, 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.
The survey counted 22,410 of these jobs in Iowa for May 2025.
That makes the occupation 2% less concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.
Sources