State labor market
Iowa labor market
Current statewide hiring activity plus occupation-level employment and pay for Iowa. OEWS answers what occupations pay and how many workers BLS estimates are employed; the postings measures show more current statewide hiring activity.
Current statewide signal
Iowa hiring snapshot
Indeed job-postings measures across all occupations in Iowa.
Indeed job postings only. Postings are not a count of all vacancies or hires, Indeed does not cover the whole labor market, and this is statewide activity across all occupations, not an occupation health score. Each series is seasonally adjusted and indexed to its own February 1, 2020 level, so a higher index does not mean more jobs than another state. Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved Sep 26, 2026. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and differences.
Occupations & pay
Where Iowa workers are employed
The eight largest occupations in our tracked OEWS catalog, by BLS estimated employment. These are estimated jobs held, not current openings or a count of unique people.
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers
35,040estimated employmentLaborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand
30,890estimated employmentGeneral and operations managers
30,760estimated employmentCustomer service representatives
30,100estimated employmentPay examples
Selected occupation pay examples
The same familiar occupations on every state page. Each U.S. figure uses the same measure (annual or hourly) as the Iowa figure beside it.
- Registered nurses$78,630/yr Iowa median annualU.S. $97,550/yr
- Software developers$114,890/yr Iowa median annualU.S. $135,980/yr
- Electricians$60,860/yr Iowa median annualU.S. $63,190/yr
- Accountants and auditors$77,440/yr Iowa median annualU.S. $83,680/yr
- Elementary school teachers, except special education$60,580/yr Iowa median annualU.S. $63,970/yr
- Marketing managers$131,120/yr Iowa median annualU.S. $166,790/yr
Pay compared with the U.S.
How Iowa occupation pay differs
Up to 5 occupations per side with at least 1,000 estimated Iowa workers and published state and U.S. median annual wages, ordered by the largest percentage gap. Nominal wages, not adjusted for cost of living; not a demand or overall market ranking, and not a test of statistical significance.
Higher median than U.S.
- Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders$62,590/yr state median · 1,420 workers+28.9%vs. U.S. $48,540/yr
- Driver/sales workers$47,120/yr state median · 4,400 workers+21.5%vs. U.S. $38,770/yr
- Parts salespersons$46,670/yr state median · 3,810 workers+20.8%vs. U.S. $38,630/yr
- Health specialties teachers, postsecondary$128,490/yr state median · 3,230 workers+19.7%vs. U.S. $107,310/yr
- Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing$51,200/yr state median · 1,100 workers+18.0%vs. U.S. $43,380/yr
Lower median than U.S.
- Waiters and waitresses$21,000/yr state median · 22,410 workers-40.4%vs. U.S. $35,230/yr
- Bartenders$21,720/yr state median · 9,560 workers-36.8%vs. U.S. $34,340/yr
- Lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers$25,460/yr state median · 1,410 workers-24.2%vs. U.S. $33,580/yr
- Self-enrichment teachers$35,670/yr state median · 2,910 workers-23.8%vs. U.S. $46,800/yr
- Exercise trainers and group fitness instructors$36,160/yr state median · 2,510 workers-23.3%vs. U.S. $47,160/yr
Explore occupations
Occupation pay in Iowa
Search every tracked OEWS occupation record for Iowa. Links marked “Iowa report” open a detailed state report; links marked “National report” open the U.S. occupation report because no Iowa report is available.
670 occupations · showing 1–25
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), reference period May 2025; our data connection last checked Sep 23, 2026. OEWS covers wage and salary jobs and excludes the self-employed. “Top-coded” means BLS publishes only that the wage is at or above its reporting ceiling; “Not released” means BLS withheld the estimate. Missing values are never estimated. These occupation wages are separate from the QCEW industry trends on detailed occupation pages.