Iowa Income Tax Calculator

Iowa taxes wage income at one flat rate of 3.8% after a standard deduction of $16,100 for single filers, on top of federal income tax and FICA.

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At a glance

Everything below is for tax year 2026 and a single filer unless stated otherwise. Rates, brackets and deductions come from the Tax Foundation tables in force on January 1, 2026, as amended by state laws enacted through June 2026; federal amounts come from IRSRevenue Procedure 2025-32.

RuleIowa, 2026
StructureFlat rate
Top rate3.8%
State income tax on $100,000 (single)$3,188
Rank of 51 on that salary#17
Standard deduction / exemption, single$16,100
Standard deduction / exemption, married$32,200
Per dependent$40
Brackets (single)1
Taxable income starts fromFederal taxable income (after the federal standard deduction)

Verified: . How we calculate · A figure looks wrong? Report it

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Paycheck examples

Four salaries, all computed by this site's own engine: single filer, paid every two weeks, no 401(k) deferral, no health premiums and no local tax. “Take-home” is what lands in the account each payday after every withholding below.

SalaryFederalStateFICATake-home / paycheckEffective rate
$50,000$3,820$1,288$3,825$1,579.4917.9%
$75,000$7,670$2,238$5,738$2,282.8620.9%
$100,000$13,170$3,188$7,650$2,922.7624.0%
$150,000$24,734$5,088$11,475$4,180.8827.5%

Payroll taxes on an Iowa paycheck

A $75,000 salary paid every two weeks, single filer, no 401(k) deferral, no health premiums and no local tax. Each line below comes off the gross before the money lands; the last column is what that line costs out of every dollar earned.

WithheldPer paycheckPer yearShare of gross
Gross pay$2,884.62$75,000100.0%
Federal income tax$295.00$7,67010.2%
Iowa income tax$86.08$2,2383.0%
Social Security (6.2%)$178.85$4,6506.2%
Medicare (1.45%)$41.83$1,0881.5%
Total withheld$601.76$15,64620.9%
Take-home pay$2,282.86$59,35479.1%

Payroll taxes come in two halves. The table above is the employee half — what is withheld from you. The employer half is paid on top of your salary and never shows up on a pay stub: a matching share of Social Security and Medicare, federal unemployment insurance (FUTA) and Iowa's own unemployment insurance. It changes what you cost to employ, not what you take home, and this calculator does not model it. Working for yourself means carrying both halves — the 1099 calculator prices that in.

Withholding forms and payroll rules in Iowa

What decides each line above: the certificate you file, the deductions it produces, and any local tax stacked on top.

  • Every new hire must sign Iowa Form IA W-4 (44-019) within 15 days, and page three of that form doubles as the state's Centralized Employee Registry new-hire report.
  • If no Iowa W-4 comes back, the employer must withhold Iowa tax using a zero allowance amount, which typically over-withholds from the very first paycheck.
  • Iowa's only income tax reciprocity agreement is with Illinois, so Illinois residents working in Iowa file Iowa Form 44-016 to direct their employer to withhold Illinois tax instead.
  • Wages paid to nonresidents working on film or television productions in Iowa may escape Iowa withholding when the producer files for that exemption.

Source: Iowa Department of Revenue, last verified . A figure looks wrong? Report it

Hourly pay in Iowa

Hourly wages are annualised the way the hourly-to-salary converter does it: 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, or 2,080 hours a year. The take-home column runs through the same engine as every other table on this page.

Hourly rateGross / yearTake-home / yearTake-home / week
$15$31,200$26,675$512.99
$20$41,600$34,637$666.09
$25$52,000$42,598$819.19
$30$62,400$50,559$972.29
$35$72,800$57,890$1,113.27

An extra dollar an hour is worth $2,080 of gross pay a year. At $35 an hour the total effective tax rate is 20.5%, which leaves $27.83 of every hour worked in the account.

Take-home by pay frequency

The same $100,000 salary, paid the four ways the calculator supports, under the assumptions above. Moving the payday changes the size of each deposit, never the yearly totals.

Pay frequencyGross payTaxes withheldTake-home pay
Weekly (52)$1,923.08$461.70$1,461.38
Biweekly (26)$3,846.15$923.39$2,922.76
Twice monthly (24)$4,166.67$1,000.34$3,166.33
Monthly (12)$8,333.33$2,000.68$6,332.65

More scenarios at $100,000

Two setups readers ask about most, beside the single-filer baseline above: filing jointly, and deferring 6% of pay into a 401(k). Both stay biweekly, with no premiums and no local tax.

SetupTake-home / paycheckTake-home / yearEffective rate
Single, no 401(k)$2,922.76$75,99224.0%
Married filing jointly$3,158.98$82,13417.9%
Single with 6% 401(k)$2,751.53$71,54022.5%

A 401(k) lowers the wages federal and Iowa income tax are figured on, but Social Security and Medicare stay charged on the full salary — and the deferral itself still leaves every paycheck, so take-home drops by the deferral minus the tax it saved.

Real-world worker profiles in Iowa

How different career stages and family setups fare under Iowa's tax rules:

Remote Tech Worker

Software engineer / designer living in Iowa

Gross Salary$130,000
Payday Deposit$3,504
Annual Net$91,100
Effective Rate24.9%

Keeps $3,504 every two weeks after all deductions.

Dual-Income Household

Married couple filing jointly with combined income

Gross Salary$180,000
Payday Deposit$5,444
Annual Net$130,660
Effective Rate21.4%

Effective combined tax rate is 21.4%.

Mid-Career Professional

Operations / marketing specialist

Gross Salary$85,000
Payday Deposit$2,539
Annual Net$66,009
Effective Rate22.3%

State tax accounts for $2,618 annually.

Brackets and deductions

A single rate applies to every dollar of state-taxable income: The Iowa standard deduction of $16,100 (single) or $32,200 (married) comes off first.

RateFromTo
3.8%$0and above

What we do not model

For Iowa: Taxable income starts from federal taxable income (after the federal standard deduction). Iowa school-city income surtax may apply in some districts. The figures above exclude local and municipal income taxes, tax credits, dependent exemptions and credits, itemized deductions, additions for age or blindness, income-specific exemptions such as tips and overtime, phase-outs, alternative minimum tax, state disability insurance, and the Form W-4 details that change real withholding. They are an estimate, not tax advice — see the full disclaimer for what the model does and does not cover. The method shows how each figure above is calculated.

Common questions

How does Iowa income tax work?
Iowa uses a single flat rate of 3.8% on its own taxable income, after a standard deduction of $16,100 for single filers or $32,200 for married couples filing jointly. There are no brackets to climb, so every additional dollar is taxed at the same rate.
What is the top Iowa income tax rate?
The top Iowa rate is 3.8%, and it only applies to income above the highest bracket threshold shown above — not to your whole salary. The rate on your first dollars is 3.8%.
What is the Iowa standard deduction or exemption for 2026?
$16,100 for single filers and $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, plus $40 for each dependent. Taxable income is what remains after the deduction shown above, and it is what the brackets are applied to.
What is the take-home pay on $100,000 in Iowa?
For a single filer paid biweekly with no 401(k) deferral and no health premiums, a $100,000 salary in Iowa leaves $2,922.76 per paycheck — $75,991.80 a year, an effective rate of 24.0% after $13,170 of federal income tax, $3,188 of Iowa tax and $7,650 of FICA.
How much is taken out of a paycheck in Iowa?
On a $75,000 salary paid every two weeks, a single filer with no 401(k) sees $601.76 withheld from the $2,884.62 gross: $295.00 of federal income tax, $86.08 of Iowa income tax, $178.85 of Social Security and $41.83 of Medicare. That leaves $2,282.86 per paycheck and $59,354 a year — an effective rate of 20.9%.
Is the effective Iowa tax rate lower than the top rate?
On a $100,000 salary, Iowa tax comes to $3,188 — 3.2% of gross, below the 3.8% flat rate, because the $16,100 deduction comes off first.
Do remote workers pay Iowa income tax?
A Iowa resident is generally taxed by Iowa on wages earned anywhere, including wages for a remote job whose employer sits in another state. Days worked physically outside Iowa can matter in some cases, and a non-resident working in Iowa is generally taxed on income earned here. Nothing here is tax advice — the details depend on your situation. The remote work taxes guide covers how days worked in another state are treated.
Does Iowa have local income taxes?
Iowa has no broad statewide local income tax layered on top of the state rate that this calculator models. School, county, city or occupational taxes can still apply in particular places, and the calculator does not model them.

Compare Iowa with

These differences use the same assumptions as the table above — single filer, $100,000 a year, paid biweekly, no 401(k), no health premium and no local tax. Federal tax and FICA are identical in every state, so the figures below differ only by wage tax.

Same tax system

Neighboring states

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Compare Iowa vs Illinois

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Iowa → Illinois Equivalency

Find the exact gross salary needed in Illinois to match your take-home pay in Iowa.

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Want to run the numbers yourself? Open the calculator with Iowa selected, put any second state next to it, or browse income tax in all 50 states — including its rank on a $100,000 salary, cheapest first.