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2026 · Iowa · Flat 3.8%

Iowa Paycheck Calculator

Iowa finished a six-year rate collapse in 2025: the top marginal rate went from 8.98% to a single 3.8% on every dollar, and the state kept a small $40 personal credit as the only remnant of its old exemption system. What makes an Iowa stub different is the starting point — Iowa builds its base on federal adjusted gross income and then takes the federal standard deduction, so the state deduction is the same $16,100 the IRS uses.

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Pre-tax deductions

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Dependents

For the child tax credit
$2,200 per child under 17, $500 per other dependent, phased out above the income limit.

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Your Iowa paycheck, period by period

Iowa salaries are quoted annually and paid in slices: $52,000 is $1,000 a week, $2,000 every two weeks, $2,166.67 twice a month or $4,333.33 once a month. The annual total is fixed; the deposit and the withholding that comes out of it are not.

Iowa contributes one line to the stub, at 3.8% of wages after the $16,100 standard deduction. On $52,000 paid every two weeks that is $50.93 per check, on top of $156.15 of federal income tax, $124.00 of Social Security and $29.00 of Medicare. There is no state disability insurance and no local income tax, so four lines is the whole story.

Same salary, four pay schedules. The annual figure does not change; only the size of each check does.
Pay frequencyGross per checkNet per checkNet per year
Weekly$1,000.00$819.96$42,638
Bi-weekly$2,000.00$1,639.92$42,638
Semi-monthly$2,166.67$1,776.58$42,638
Monthly$4,333.33$3,553.15$42,638

What comes out of an Iowa paycheck in 2026

Four deductions come out of an Iowa paycheck: federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Iowa income tax. Iowa has no disability insurance program, no employee paid-leave premium and no city or county income tax, so the state contributes one line and nothing else.

Federal income tax

Federal tax is progressive: each slice of taxable income carries its own rate, so a raise never re-prices the dollars already earned. For a single filer in 2026 the bands are 10% to $12,400 of taxable income, 12% to $50,400, 22% to $105,700, 24% to $201,775, 32% to $256,225, 35% to $640,600 and 37% above that. A married couple filing jointly gets bands twice as wide up to the top bracket.

Federal taxable income is salary minus pre-tax deductions minus the standard deduction: $16,100 single, $32,200 joint, $16,100 married filing separately, $24,150 head of household. A single filer on $52,000 has $35,900 of federal taxable income and pays $4,060 across the year, about 7.8% of salary, even though the last dollar sits in the 12% band.

Social Security

Social Security takes 6.2% of gross wages, and the employer pays a matching 6.2% that never appears on the stub. The tax stops at an annual wage base: in 2026 the first $184,500 of wages is taxed and everything above it is exempt, so the maximum employee contribution is $11,439. A $52,000 salary pays $3,224 across the year; a $300,000 salary pays the maximum and no more.

Medicare

Medicare takes 1.45% of every dollar with no ceiling, matched by the employer. Above $200,000 of wages for a single filer — $250,000 joint, $125,000 married filing separately — an additional 0.9% applies to the excess and is not matched. A $52,000 salary pays $754; a $300,000 salary pays $4,350 plus $900 of the surcharge.

Iowa income tax

One multiplication: wages, less pre-tax deductions, less the $16,100 standard deduction, times 3.8%, then minus the $40 personal credit. On $52,000 that is $35,900 of Iowa taxable income, $1,364.20 of tax and $1,324.20 after the credit — $50.93 per bi-weekly check.

Pre-tax deductions work the way most people expect. A traditional 401(k) contribution, an HSA contribution and a Section 125 health premium all come off the top before the 3.8% is applied, so each dollar contributed saves 3.8 cents of Iowa tax as well as whatever it saves federally. On $52,000 with a 6% 401(k) contribution the Iowa line falls from $1,324.20 to $1,205.64.

The line does not move much with salary, which is the point of a flat rate. The effective rate rises only because the $16,100 deduction is a smaller share of a larger salary: 2.17% at $40,000, 2.55% at $52,000, 3.15% at $100,000 and 3.58% at $300,000. It approaches 3.8% but never arrives, because a fixed deduction never disappears.

Why Iowa tax is 3.8% and what it replaced

Iowa's rate used to be one of the highest in the Midwest. In 2018 the top marginal rate was 8.98%, applied to a nine-bracket schedule, and the state also allowed a deduction for federal income tax paid that made the effective rate hard to predict. A sequence of reforms cut the number year by year until 2025, when the schedule collapsed into a single 3.8% rate on all Iowa taxable income. The 2026 rate is unchanged.

The base matters more than the rate here, and it is the part most out-of-state calculators get wrong. Iowa starts from federal adjusted gross income, which already reflects pre-tax 401(k) and HSA contributions, and then allows the federal standard deduction as its own. So the Iowa standard deduction in 2026 is $16,100 for a single filer, $32,200 for a joint return, $24,150 for head of household and $16,100 for married filing separately — the same four numbers the IRS uses, not a separate state schedule. Seven states build their base this way, and Iowa is one of them.

What survived the reform is a small credit. Iowa still grants a personal credit of $40 per exemption against the tax itself: $40 for a single filer, $80 on a joint return, $40 for each dependent, with no income cliff and no phase-out. On $52,000 that credit is worth about a dollar a week. It is a rounding error next to the rate cut, but it is the reason the Iowa line on a stub is not exactly 3.8% of taxable wages, and the reason a joint return at the same salary pays $651.80 less than a single one — the wider deduction does nearly all of that work and the doubled credit does the rest.

There is nothing else. Iowa has no state disability insurance, no payroll-funded family leave, and no local income tax — no city, county or school district in the state withholds an income tax from wages. Local government in Iowa runs on property tax and the local option sales tax, neither of which touches a paycheck. A wage earner in Des Moines and a wage earner in a town of 900 see the same state line at the same salary.

The practical consequence for planning is that Iowa behaves like a flat tax with a wide zero band. The first $16,100 of wages is untaxed, everything above it is taxed at 3.8%, and the marginal rate never changes. A raise of $1,000 costs $38 in Iowa tax whether it takes you from $30,000 to $31,000 or from $200,000 to $201,000, and no deduction phases out along the way.

Iowa, Illinois and Kansas on the same salary

Iowa sits between two states that both tax wages more heavily, and the size of the difference is the most useful thing an Iowa reader can take from this page. The table applies one set of assumptions — single filer, bi-weekly pay, no dependents, no pre-tax deductions — and counts everything a state takes from a paycheck, including any state payroll line.

State income tax plus state payroll tax on the same salary, single filer, 2026
SalaryIllinoisKansas
$52,000$1,324$2,429$2,102
$100,000$3,148$4,805$4,780
$150,000$5,048$7,280$7,570

Iowa takes $1,324.20 on $52,000 against $2,429.21 in Illinois and $2,101.91 in Kansas, and the gap holds at every salary in the table: $3,148.20 against $4,805.21 and $4,780.31 at $100,000, then $5,048.20 against $7,280.21 and $7,570.31 at $150,000. Iowa's advantage over Illinois is 1.15 points of rate plus a $16,100 deduction against Illinois's $2,925 allowance, which is why the gap grows rather than shrinking at higher incomes.

The Kansas comparison is the more interesting one because the two states have similar populations and adjacent economies. Kansas charges a lower top rate than Iowa on paper is wrong — 5.58% against 3.8% — but the real difference is the base: Kansas deducts $12,765 before tax on a single filer, Iowa deducts $16,100, and Iowa's rate is nearly two points lower on top of that. A Kansan earning $150,000 pays $2,522 more state income tax than an Iowan on the same salary.

The catch, and the reason Iowa's rate fell so far, is that the state traded revenue for competitiveness over six years. It funds itself through a 6% state sales tax and property tax, and its income tax now raises a much smaller share of the budget than it did in 2018, when the top rate was 8.98%. Whether that trade holds depends on revenue growth rather than on any trigger written into the statute, so the 3.8% rate is a policy choice a future legislature could revisit rather than a number locked in by formula.

Iowa take-home pay by salary

The table below applies one set of assumptions — single filer, bi-weekly pay, no dependents, no pre-tax deductions — so the rows are directly comparable down the column. The last four rows convert an hourly rate at 40 hours a week into the annual salary it represents.

The state tax column shows the flat rate doing what flat rates do. Because the only variable is the fixed $16,100 deduction, the state rate climbs smoothly from 2.17% at $40,000 to 3.58% at $300,000 without a single step, and the total effective rate beside it climbs faster because the federal brackets are progressive. A comparison between two Iowa salaries is therefore a comparison of federal brackets plus one constant 3.8% on the difference.

Read the net per year column as the amount that reaches a bank account across twelve months. If you are paid hourly, the calculator multiplies your rate by the hours you enter and by 52; overtime and unpaid weeks off move the annual figure, and the annual figure is what the brackets apply to.

Single filer, bi-weekly pay, no dependents, no pre-tax deductions
Annual payGross per checkState tax per yearNet per checkNet per yearTotal effective rate
$40,000$1,538.46$868$1,286.61$33,45216.4%
$50,000$1,923.08$1,248$1,581.03$41,10717.8%
$60,000$2,307.69$1,628$1,875.45$48,76218.7%
$75,000$2,884.62$2,198$2,284.40$59,39420.8%
$100,000$3,846.15$3,148$2,924.30$76,03224.0%
$125,000$4,807.69$4,098$3,561.74$92,60525.9%
$150,000$5,769.23$5,048$4,182.42$108,74327.5%
$200,000$7,692.31$6,948$5,460.72$141,97929.0%
$250,000$9,615.38$8,848$6,705.15$174,33430.3%
$300,000$11,538.46$10,748$7,862.64$204,42931.9%
$15/hr × 40h ($31,200/yr)$1,200.00$534$1,027.52$26,71514.4%
$20/hr × 40h ($41,600/yr)$1,600.00$929$1,333.72$34,67716.6%
$25/hr × 40h ($52,000/yr)$2,000.00$1,324$1,639.92$42,63818.0%
$30/hr × 40h ($62,400/yr)$2,400.00$1,719$1,946.12$50,59918.9%

Filing status and dependents in Iowa

Filing status changes the Iowa line through the standard deduction, which doubles on a joint return, and through the second $40 credit. A single filer and a married couple on the same $52,000 pay $1,324.20 and $672.40 respectively: the couple saves $651.80 a year, which is $16,100 of extra deduction at 3.8% plus the extra $40 credit.

Dependents are worth very little at the state level and a great deal at the federal one. Each dependent adds $40 of Iowa credit — 3.8 cents per dollar of exemption would be worth $1.52, so the credit is deliberately token. The federal side is where the money is: two children under 17 are worth $4,400 of federal child tax credit, which at $52,000 wipes out federal income tax entirely and lifts the check to $1,824.22 on a joint return.

Head of household uses the federal head-of-household standard deduction of $24,150, which is why a single parent in Iowa pays less state tax than a single filer on the same salary. Married filing separately takes $16,100, the same as single, and usually costs more federally than filing jointly because the federal brackets are half as wide.

Assumptions and sources

Ruleset 2026.1, verified 2026-10-31. Federal brackets and the standard deduction come from IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (§4.01 and §4.14). Social Security and Medicare rates, the $184,500 wage base and the 0.9% additional Medicare threshold come from IRS Publication 15 (2026), Circular E. The Child Tax Credit amounts are the 2026 figures published by the IRS.

The Iowa rate is 3.8% on all Iowa taxable income, the endpoint of the phase-down that began in 2018 and reached its final step for tax year 2025. The state standard deduction follows the federal amounts because Iowa's starting point includes the federal standard deduction, and the $40 per-exemption credit is the surviving piece of Iowa's old exemption system. Both figures match the Tax Foundation's 2026 state table and the Iowa Department of Revenue's individual income tax guidance.

Not modelled: the retirement income exclusion for filers 55 and older, the capital gains deduction, the Iowa Earned Income Tax Credit, wage garnishments, union dues, post-tax deductions, bonuses withheld at supplemental rates, and mid-year pay changes. Figures are estimates, not a filing.

Frequently asked questions

Does Iowa have a state income tax?

Yes, at a single rate of 3.8% on all Iowa taxable income. Iowa cut its top marginal rate from 8.98% in 2018 down to 3.8% in a series of steps, and the flat rate took full effect for tax year 2025. The 2026 rate is unchanged.

What is the Iowa standard deduction for 2026?

$16,100 for a single filer, $32,200 for a married couple filing jointly, $24,150 for head of household and $16,100 for married filing separately. These are the federal amounts: Iowa starts from federal adjusted gross income and includes the federal standard deduction in its own calculation, so the state figures track the IRS rather than a separate schedule.

How much is taken out of a paycheck in Iowa?

On $52,000 paid bi-weekly, $360.08 comes out of a $2,000 check: $156.15 of federal income tax, $124.00 of Social Security, $29.00 of Medicare and $50.93 of Iowa income tax. That leaves $1,639.92, or 82.0 cents of every dollar.

How much is a $100,000 salary in Iowa after tax?

$2,924.30 per bi-weekly check, or $76,031.80 across the year, for a single filer with no dependents and no pre-tax deductions. Iowa takes $3,148.20 across the year, federal income tax $13,170, Social Security $6,200 and Medicare $1,450.

Why is Iowa tax below 3.8% of my salary?

Because the $16,100 standard deduction comes off before the rate is applied, and the $40 credit comes off the result. On $52,000 the effective rate is 2.55%; on $100,000 it is 3.15%; on $300,000 it is 3.58%. It approaches 3.8% as income rises but never reaches it, because a fixed deduction never disappears.

Does Iowa have local income tax?

No. No city, county or school district in Iowa withholds an income tax from wages. Local government is funded by property tax and the local option sales tax, neither of which appears on a paycheck.

Does Iowa have disability insurance or paid family leave?

Neither. Iowa has no state disability insurance program and no payroll-funded family leave scheme, so there is no employee premium and no second state-level line on an Iowa stub.

What is the $40 Iowa credit worth?

$40 a year per exemption, subtracted from the tax rather than from income. A single filer claims one, a joint return claims two, and each dependent adds one more. It has no income limit and does not phase out, but at $40 it is a rounding error next to the 3.8% rate itself.

Does filing jointly change Iowa tax?

Yes, through the doubled standard deduction and the second $40 credit. On $52,000 a single filer pays $1,324.20 of Iowa tax and a joint return pays $672.40, a saving of $651.80 — $16,100 of extra deduction at 3.8%, plus $40.

Do 401(k) and HSA contributions reduce Iowa tax?

Yes. Iowa starts from federal adjusted gross income, so a traditional 401(k) contribution, an HSA contribution and a Section 125 health premium all reduce Iowa taxable income as well as federal. On $52,000 a 6% 401(k) contribution cuts the Iowa line from $1,324.20 to $1,205.64.

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