$40,000 After Taxes in Iowa (2026)

A single filer paid $40,000 in Iowa has $23,900 of federal taxable income after the $16,100 standard deduction. The top slice of that income falls in the 12% federal bracket, which starts at $12,400 of taxable income, and federal income tax comes to $2,620, or 6.55% of the salary.

Payroll tax is federal and the same in Iowa as everywhere else: on $40,000 of wages it is $3,060, made up of $2,480 of Social Security at 6.2% of every dollar and $580 of Medicare at 1.45%.

Iowa taxable income is $23,900, and Iowa taxes it at its flat 3.8% rate. State income tax is $868, after $40 of credits the state applies at this income, 2.17% of the salary. Iowa's individual income tax is a flat 3.8% for tax year 2025 and later, the final step of S.F. 2442 (2024).

Altogether $6,548 of a $40,000 Iowa salary goes to tax, an effective total rate of 16.37%, which leaves $33,452 a year: $2,788 a month, $1,287 every two weeks, $643 a week, or $16 an hour over 2,080 hours.

At $40,000, Iowa ranks 19th of 51 jurisdictions for take-home pay, highest first. A no-tax state leaves $868 more a year, and the median state $183 less than Iowa. The lowest take-home at $40,000 is $31,886, in Oregon, $1,566 less than in Iowa.

Across the state line the same $40,000 leaves a single filer: Minnesota $32,999, $453 less; Wisconsin $33,236, $216 less; Illinois $32,485, $967 less; Missouri $33,408, $44 less; Nebraska $33,380, $72 less; South Dakota $34,320, $868 more.

Some localities in Iowa levy their own income tax, and none of it is included in the $40,000 figures here; the local income tax pages explain how it works.

These Iowa figures treat the whole $40,000 as wages, take the standard deduction, claim no dependents and include no federal credits. A pre-tax 401(k) contribution or health premium would lower taxable income and raise take-home; a second income or itemized deductions would change it again.