$85,000 After Taxes in Iowa (2026)

A single filer paid $85,000 in Iowa has $68,900 of federal taxable income after the $16,100 standard deduction. The top slice of that income falls in the 22% federal bracket, which starts at $50,400 of taxable income, and federal income tax comes to $9,870, or 11.61% of the salary.

Payroll tax is federal and the same in Iowa as everywhere else: on $85,000 of wages it is $6,503, made up of $5,270 of Social Security at 6.2% of every dollar and $1,233 of Medicare at 1.45%.

Iowa taxable income is $68,900, and Iowa taxes it at its flat 3.8% rate. State income tax is $2,578, after $40 of credits the state applies at this income, 3.03% 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 $18,951 of a $85,000 Iowa salary goes to tax, an effective total rate of 22.29%, which leaves $66,049 a year: $5,504 a month, $2,540 every two weeks, $1,270 a week, or $32 an hour over 2,080 hours.

At $85,000, Iowa ranks 16th of 51 jurisdictions for take-home pay, highest first. A no-tax state leaves $2,578 more a year, and the median state $453 less than Iowa. The lowest take-home at $85,000 is $62,792, in Oregon, $3,257 less than in Iowa.

Across the state line the same $85,000 leaves a single filer: Minnesota $64,371, $1,678 less; Wisconsin $65,090, $959 less; Illinois $64,565, $1,485 less; Missouri $65,639, $410 less; Nebraska $65,640, $410 less; South Dakota $68,628, $2,578 more.

Some localities in Iowa levy their own income tax, and none of it is included in the $85,000 figures here; the local income tax pages explain how it works.

These Iowa figures treat the whole $85,000 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.