$55,000 After Taxes in Iowa (2026)

A single filer paid $55,000 in Iowa has $38,900 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 $4,420, or 8.04% of the salary.

Payroll tax is federal and the same in Iowa as everywhere else: on $55,000 of wages it is $4,208, made up of $3,410 of Social Security at 6.2% of every dollar and $798 of Medicare at 1.45%.

Iowa taxable income is $38,900, and Iowa taxes it at its flat 3.8% rate. State income tax is $1,438, after $40 of credits the state applies at this income, 2.61% 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 $10,066 of a $55,000 Iowa salary goes to tax, an effective total rate of 18.30%, which leaves $44,934 a year: $3,745 a month, $1,728 every two weeks, $864 a week, or $22 an hour over 2,080 hours.

At $55,000, Iowa ranks 18th of 51 jurisdictions for take-home pay, highest first. A no-tax state leaves $1,438 more a year, and the median state $217 less than Iowa. The lowest take-home at $55,000 is $42,783, in Oregon, $2,151 less than in Iowa.

Across the state line the same $55,000 leaves a single filer: Minnesota $44,156, $778 less; Wisconsin $44,549, $385 less; Illinois $43,795, $1,140 less; Missouri $44,756, $178 less; Nebraska $44,750, $185 less; South Dakota $46,373, $1,438 more.

Some localities in Iowa levy their own income tax, and none of it is included in the $55,000 figures here; the local income tax pages explain how it works.

These Iowa figures treat the whole $55,000 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.