Is $18 an hour good pay in Iowa?

$18 an hour is $37,440 a year at 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, before tax. After federal income tax, FICA and Iowa income tax a single filer keeps about $2,624 a month — $31,492 a year, or $15.14 for every hour worked.

How much is $18 an hour after tax per hour?

About $15.14 per hour. Gross pay is $18 an hour, and $2.86 of each hour goes to federal income tax and FICA plus Iowa income tax — an effective rate of 15.9%. That is the whole-year average; individual paycheques vary with hours and any bonus.

What if I only work 30 hours a week at $18 in Iowa?

30 hours a week is 1,560 hours a year, or $28,080 gross. Take-home is about $2,027 a month. Because the standard deduction and the lower brackets are fixed amounts, a part-time schedule keeps a larger share of each dollar than a full-time one at the same rate.

Does overtime change the tax on $18 an hour in Iowa?

Overtime is paid at 1.5 times the rate, so 45 hours a week is $44,460 a year at $18: 40 hours at $18 plus 5 hours at $27.00. Take-home is about $3,072 a month. The extra hours are taxed at your marginal rate, not at the average rate, so the net gain per overtime hour is smaller than $27.00.

Why use 2,080 hours instead of 2,000?

Payroll converts hourly pay with 40 hours a week × 52 weeks = 2,080 hours a year. Using 2,000 hours (50 weeks) understates annual pay by about 4%, because paid leave is paid time — it is not unpaid hours removed from the total.

$18 an Hour in Iowa — What It Pays a Year

$18 an hour, 2,080 hours a year

Gross pay$37,440

Take-home pay$31,492

Federal income tax$2,3136.2%
FICA — Social Security + Medicare$2,8647.7%
Iowa income tax$7712.1%
Take-home pay$31,49284.1%

$18 an hour × 2,080 hours is $37,440 gross. A single filer keeps $31,492 of it — $15.14 for every hour on the clock.

At $18 an hour in Iowa, a full-time year is $37,440 gross, and a single filer takes home about $2,624 a month — $15.14 per hour actually kept. That is after federal income tax, FICA and Iowa income tax.

Hourly wage$18

Annual gross$37,440

Monthly take-home$2,624

Net per hour worked$15.14

$18 an hour, converted

Payroll does not multiply an hourly rate by 2,000 hours. The standard conversion is 40 hours a week × 52 weeks = 2,080 paid hours, which is why $18 an hour is $37,440 a year and not $36,000. Paid leave is why the higher figure is the correct one: vacation hours are paid, so they stay in the annual total.

Period	Gross	Net (single filer)
Hour	$18	$15.14
Week (40 hours)	$720	$606
Biweekly	$1,440	$1,211
Month	$3,120	$2,624
Year	$37,440	$31,492

Weekly and biweekly net figures are the annual amount divided by 52 and 26, not a per-cheque withholding formula. An employer withholding with the IRS percentage method on each cheque lands close to these averages over a full year.

What Iowa takes on top of the federal layer

The same $18 an hour would keep $32,263 a year if only federal tax and FICA applied. In Iowa it keeps $31,492 — $771 less, or $0.37 per hour given up to the state layer.

Iowa applies a single flat rate to taxable wages, so the state line grows in step with hours worked — there is no bracket to climb out of at 18 an hour.

Iowa applies one flat 3.8% rate to wage income, with no brackets to climb. That places the top rate 35th among the 42 taxing jurisdictions compared here, a group that excludes the nine with no wage tax. County, city, or school district income taxes are common in this state, averaging about 0.08% of income, and they are not included in this number.

Part-time and overtime at $18 an hour

Schedule	Hours / year	Annual gross	Monthly net
30 hours a week	1,560	$28,080	$2,027
40 hours a week	2,080	$37,440	$2,624
45 hours a week (5 at 1.5×)	2,340	$44,460	$3,072

Overtime hours are paid at $27.00 under the FLSA time-and-a-half rule. They are withheld at the marginal rate rather than the average rate, so a heavy overtime month withholds more than this monthly average and settles up when the return is filed.

Adjust it to your own numbers

Annual gross salary

Drag to see the curve move. Numbers update as you type. Above $250,000 the slider stretches to your entry instead of pinning to its old cap.

State

Filing status

401(k) contribution (annual)

Cap $24,500. Pre-tax 401(k) lowers income tax but not FICA — that is why this number moves less than people expect.

$2,624/ month

$31,492 a year after tax · $1,211 per biweekly check

This is the full-year tax liability on that salary, not an employer's per-period withholding table. Payroll withholding can land a few percent away from the annual figure, so another calculator may show a slightly different number.

Effective tax rate15.9%

Marginal rate23.5%

Total withheld$5,948

FICA$2,864

Line item	Annual	Monthly
Gross pay	$37,440	$3,120
Pre-tax deductions (401k / HSA)	-$0	-$0
Federal income tax	-$2,313	-$193
Social Security	-$2,321	-$193
Medicare	-$543	-$45
Iowa state income tax	-$771	-$64
Take-home pay	$31,492	$2,624

Gross incomeTake-home payThe gap widens as income climbs — that is the marginal rate at work.

Other hourly rates in Iowa

Hourly rate	Annual gross	Monthly net	Net per hour
$15/hour	$31,200	$2,226	$12.84
$18/hour	$37,440	$2,624	$15.14
$20/hour	$41,600	$2,890	$16.67
$25/hour	$52,000	$3,553	$20.50

Net per hour is take-home divided by 2,080 hours, so it drops more slowly than the effective rate rises — the standard deduction covers the first slice of income at every rate.

Questions this page answers

Is $18 an hour good pay in Iowa?: $18 an hour is $37,440 a year at 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, before tax. After federal income tax, FICA and Iowa income tax a single filer keeps about $2,624 a month — $31,492 a year, or $15.14 for every hour worked.
How much is $18 an hour after tax per hour?: About $15.14 per hour. Gross pay is $18 an hour, and $2.86 of each hour goes to federal income tax and FICA plus Iowa income tax — an effective rate of 15.9%. That is the whole-year average; individual paycheques vary with hours and any bonus.
What if I only work 30 hours a week at $18 in Iowa?: 30 hours a week is 1,560 hours a year, or $28,080 gross. Take-home is about $2,027 a month. Because the standard deduction and the lower brackets are fixed amounts, a part-time schedule keeps a larger share of each dollar than a full-time one at the same rate.
Does overtime change the tax on $18 an hour in Iowa?: Overtime is paid at 1.5 times the rate, so 45 hours a week is $44,460 a year at $18: 40 hours at $18 plus 5 hours at $27.00. Take-home is about $3,072 a month. The extra hours are taxed at your marginal rate, not at the average rate, so the net gain per overtime hour is smaller than $27.00.
Why use 2,080 hours instead of 2,000?: Payroll converts hourly pay with 40 hours a week × 52 weeks = 2,080 hours a year. Using 2,000 hours (50 weeks) understates annual pay by about 4%, because paid leave is paid time — it is not unpaid hours removed from the total.

Continue from here

$15 an hourin Iowa $20 an hourin Iowa $25 an hourin Iowa $35,000 a yearafter tax in Iowa $40,000 a yearafter tax in Iowa All salaries in Iowastate brackets, median earner, local levies $18 an hour, federal viewno state tax, all 51 jurisdictions compared

Same hourly rate, other states

Alabama$18 an hour · state income tax Alaska$18 an hour · no state income tax Arizona$18 an hour · state income tax Arkansas$18 an hour · state income tax California$18 an hour · state income tax Colorado$18 an hour · state income tax

Where these federal figures come from

The federal side of this page is not an estimate of an estimate. The brackets and the standard deduction come from the IRS annual inflation notice, the Social Security wage base from the SSA, and the 401(k) deferral limit from the IRS contribution-limit notice. Each link below is the document the dataset was read from for tax year 2026.

Dataset status VERIFIED · reviewed 2026-11-07. The full cross-market list lives on the sources page; the computation chain is on the methodology page.

Tax year 2026 · Data reviewed 2026-11-07 · Source: Iowa revenue department · Financial disclaimer