How are Iowa RN salaries calculated on this page?

Nominal wages come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) — annual employer surveys, May 2026 reference period. Real-wage figures use BEA Regional Price Parities (2023 vintage) to adjust for state-level cost of living. No self-report or jobs-board data is mixed in.

How many RNs does Iowa employ?

BLS OES counts 33,480 RNs employed in Iowa in the most recent release. Employment density relative to population determines whether wage tiers reflect a robust competitive market or a thinner labor pool.

Why is the BEA RPP for Iowa different from a single CPI number?

BEA splits regional price parity into three components — goods, services, and rents — reweighted to the BEA's national consumption basket. Iowa's overall index of 88.8 reflects rents 66.0, services 87.3, and goods 96.6.

Where does Iowa rank for RN pay?

On nominal BLS wages alone, Iowa ranks among the 51 states and DC by median pay. After the BEA cost-of-living adjustment the ordering changes — high-cost states fall, low-cost states rise. Both rankings are shown in the data table on this page.

Is Iowa a 'real-wage arbitrage' state for RNs?

Yes — the BEA RPP of 88.8 is below the national 100 baseline, so nominal $76,960 stretches to a real-wage equivalent of $86,697. The take-home advantage versus a higher-RPP state is meaningful for RNs comparing offers across regions.

Should I negotiate based on the BLS median for Iowa?

The BLS median is a calibration anchor, not a ceiling. Use it to validate that an offer is in-band — anything well below the P25 in this state is a flag, anything above the P75 typically requires demonstrable specialty depth, niche credentials, or a high-COL metro within Iowa.

Travel RN vs staff RN in Iowa — which earns more on a real basis?

Travel RN gross weekly is usually higher, but the real comparison nets out housing stipends (which are tax-advantaged but state-dependent), per-diem premiums, and the lack of staff-side benefits and pension accrual. In Iowa, the real-wage gap is narrower than the headline contract numbers suggest.

2026 Registered Nurse Salary — Iowa ($77K BLS, RPP-Adjusted Real Wage)

TL;DR

Registered Nurses in Iowa earn a BLS median of $76,960, with real take-home of $86,697 after BEA RPP adjustment.
Cost of living below the national index lifts real wage by $9,737 over the nominal — a take-home arbitrage that nominal-ranking tables miss.
Quartile range $65,770 (bottom 25%) to $83,200 (top 25%); the P10-P90 envelope is $62,210 to $98,280.
Multistate license: Iowa participates in the NLC compact, useful for travel-RN flexibility.
RN ranking: #48 on the BLS table, #43 once cost of living is in.

Wage breakdown — Iowa

Percentile	Nominal (BLS)	Real (BEA RPP-adjusted)
P10 (entry tier)	$62,210	$70,081
P25 (lower quartile)	$65,770	$74,091
P50 (median)	$76,960	$86,697
P75 (upper quartile)	$83,200	$93,726
P90 (top tier)	$98,280	$110,714
Mean	$77,780	$87,621
Employment	33,480 RNs in Iowa

Cost of living — BEA Regional Price Parity

Component	Iowa index (US = 100)
All-items RPP	88.8
Goods	96.6
Services	87.3
Rents	66.0

Iowa sits below the national baseline (RPP 88.8), so nominal pay translates to a higher real wage than the BLS median suggests — particularly visible in rents at 66.0.

After-tax take-home — Iowa (2024 BLS · 2024 tax year, single filer)

Layer-by-layer take-home math at the BLS median

Layer	Amount	Note
Gross BLS P50 (RN)	$76,960	nominal median
Federal income tax	−$8,178	10.6% effective; std deduction $15,750 applied
State income tax	−$2,326	3.8% flat (2026, SF 2417 fully phased)
FICA (SS 6.2% + Medicare 1.45%)	−$5,887	SS capped at $183,600 wage base
Take-home (after-tax)	$60,568	78.7% of gross
Real take-home (RPP-adjusted)	$68,231	÷ (88.8 / 100) BEA cost-of-living

What the Iowa state-tax burden means for RN take-home

Mid-band state-tax burden at 3.0% effective. Combined with federal and FICA, take-home is $60,568 (78.7% of gross). After the 88.8 RPP, real take-home is $68,231.

Computed from 2026 IRS federal brackets (Rev. Proc. 2025-32), 2026 state DOR brackets, and 2026 FICA rates. Single filer, standard deduction, no other adjustments. See methodology · tax for limitations (married filers, ITM/SALT itemizers, retirement deferrals, HSA, dependent credits, etc.).

National context

Across the United States, BLS reports a national median of $93,600 for RNs with mean pay of $98,430 and total employment of 3,282,010. Iowa sits at #48 on nominal pay and #43 on real (cost-adjusted) pay among the 51 states and DC. After cost adjustment, Iowa climbs 5 positions — the cost of living is favorable relative to the wage.

Licensure — Iowa (NLC)

Iowa participates in the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC), with effective participation since 2017. RNs holding a multistate license issued by another Compact state may practice in Iowa without applying for a separate Iowa license. Iowa-issued multistate licenses are reciprocally recognized in 36 other Compact states (37 jurisdictions total in 2026), eliminating the per-state endorsement workflow ($100–$500 + 4–16 week processing) for travel and per-diem RN work.

Iowa has been a Compact participant for 9 years as of 2026, putting it among the long-tenured members where the Compact pathway is the established norm at most employers and travel agencies.

Source: NCSBN compact implementation tracker — re-synced quarterly. See NLC reciprocity hub for the cross-state matrix and changelog for status changes.

Frequently asked questions

How are Iowa RN salaries calculated on this page?: Nominal wages come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) — annual employer surveys, May 2026 reference period. Real-wage figures use BEA Regional Price Parities (2023 vintage) to adjust for state-level cost of living. No self-report or jobs-board data is mixed in.
How many RNs does Iowa employ?: BLS OES counts 33,480 RNs employed in Iowa in the most recent release. Employment density relative to population determines whether wage tiers reflect a robust competitive market or a thinner labor pool.
Why is the BEA RPP for Iowa different from a single CPI number?: BEA splits regional price parity into three components — goods, services, and rents — reweighted to the BEA's national consumption basket. Iowa's overall index of 88.8 reflects rents 66.0, services 87.3, and goods 96.6.
Where does Iowa rank for RN pay?: On nominal BLS wages alone, Iowa ranks among the 51 states and DC by median pay. After the BEA cost-of-living adjustment the ordering changes — high-cost states fall, low-cost states rise. Both rankings are shown in the data table on this page.
Is Iowa a 'real-wage arbitrage' state for RNs?: Yes — the BEA RPP of 88.8 is below the national 100 baseline, so nominal $76,960 stretches to a real-wage equivalent of $86,697. The take-home advantage versus a higher-RPP state is meaningful for RNs comparing offers across regions.
Should I negotiate based on the BLS median for Iowa?: The BLS median is a calibration anchor, not a ceiling. Use it to validate that an offer is in-band — anything well below the P25 in this state is a flag, anything above the P75 typically requires demonstrable specialty depth, niche credentials, or a high-COL metro within Iowa.
Travel RN vs staff RN in Iowa — which earns more on a real basis?: Travel RN gross weekly is usually higher, but the real comparison nets out housing stipends (which are tax-advantaged but state-dependent), per-diem premiums, and the lack of staff-side benefits and pension accrual. In Iowa, the real-wage gap is narrower than the headline contract numbers suggest.

Sources & methodology

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES), SOC 29-1141, 2024 reference period.
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities, 2023 vintage (all-items, goods, services, rents).
Real-wage figures = nominal BLS wage ÷ (state RPP / 100).
See the methodology page for full computation details and limitations.

By Marcus Liang · Founder & Editor · Last synced 2026-05-05.

Cross-comparison: see how Iowa RN pay ranks against the other 254 state × occupation pages on the Real Wage Atlas → — four-way ranking by real wage, after-tax take-home, state-tax savings, and cost-of-living arbitrage.