Iowa Paycheck Calculator 2026

How this calculator works

Iowa’s withholding formula has four steps, and the Iowa Department of Revenue publishes them with worked examples. Your employer takes a deduction off your pay, multiplies what is left by 3.8%, subtracts the allowance amount from your IA W-4 (spread over your pay periods), and adds any extra amount you asked for. This calculator does the same on a yearly basis, then shows the result for the period you choose.

The calculator applies these deductions in this order:

• Federal income tax. Your gross pay minus the federal standard deduction for your filing status, run through the 2026 federal brackets.
• Social Security at 6.2% of gross wages, up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500.
• Medicare at 1.45% of all wages, with no cap, plus the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax on wages above $200,000.
• Iowa income tax: your wages after any 401(k) contribution, minus the Iowa withholding deduction for your status ($13,000 single, $19,500 head of household, $26,000 married with a spouse who has no earned income), taxed at 3.8%, less the allowance credit ($40 single, $80 married or head of household), never below zero.

This calculator has no other Iowa line. We looked for any other state payroll deduction and found none.

Rates come from the agencies that set them. For federal tax, that is the IRS (the brackets, the standard deduction and FICA), cross-checked against the Social Security Administration for the wage base. For Iowa, it is the Iowa Department of Revenue’s 2026 withholding formula and tables (effective January 1, 2026), its 2026 IA W-4 and instructions, and its announcement of the 2026 rate, plus Iowa Workforce Development and the Code of Iowa for the unemployment point. Our full sourcing is on the methodology page.

How we checked the formula against the printed tables. The Department also prints wage-bracket tables, as Excel workbooks, for daily, weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, monthly and annual pay. There is one table for each of the three IA W-4 filing choices, with a column for every $40 step of allowances. We read every amount in all 18 tables (31,328 amounts) and recomputed each one with the formula at the midpoint of its pay range, rounding to the cent after the rate step and again after the allowance step, the way the Department’s own worked examples do. We downloaded the tables on October 7, 2026, and every printed amount in that version matches to the cent. Because a table gives one amount for a whole range of pay, a pay stub that follows a table can differ from this calculator’s result by a small amount for that reason alone.

Withholding is an estimate, not your final bill. The figure here is what an employer withholds from each check using the Department’s method. Your actual Iowa income tax is figured on your return, so what you owe or get back when you file can differ. This is an estimate, not tax advice; check your IA W-4 with your employer or a tax professional.

What the calculator deliberately leaves out: dependents and the other extra allowances on the IA W-4, such as those for age 65 or older, blindness or itemized deductions, extra withholding, an EXEMPT status, the school district surtax, bonuses, nonresidents, and health insurance premiums and other employer benefit deductions.

One rate, a deduction that depends on your IA W-4, and a $40 credit

There are no brackets to climb. The Iowa Department of Revenue announced in October 2025 that Iowa law provides for a flat tax rate of 3.8 percent, and that in 2026 all levels of taxable individual income will be subject to it. Withholding uses the same 3.8%. What changes from one employee to the next is the deduction (set by the filing status and the spouse question on the IA W-4) and the allowance amount. For a single filer on $75,000, the base is $75,000 − $13,000 = $62,000, $62,000 × 3.8% = $2,356.00, and $2,356.00 − $40 = $2,316.00.

The married column assumes a spouse with no earned income, so the allowance is $40 for you plus $40 for your spouse. The head-of-household allowance is $80 because the IA W-4 gives $80 instead of $40 to an unmarried filer who is eligible for that status. The IA W-4 has more lines, for dependents and other items, that we do not model.

What the deduction and the allowance do to your withholding

The allowance cancels the first few dollars of tax, so a single filer has nothing withheld until pay passes about $14,053 a year. The same point is about $21,605 for a head of household and $28,105 for a married filer whose spouse does not earn. After that, every extra dollar adds 3.8 cents of withholding, whether your pay is $40,000 or $250,000. The table shows four salaries for a single filer.

Iowa hourly paycheck: what your rate is worth after tax

Why we ask for your hours instead of assuming 2,080

Many hourly calculators multiply your rate by 2,080 and call it a year. That is 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, which describes a full-time schedule, not every hourly job. If you work 32 hours a week, or 45 with overtime, the assumed figure is wrong before any tax is applied. The calculator above asks for your hours and uses them. In Iowa your hours also matter because of the deduction: part-time pay can fall entirely below it, and then no state tax is withheld at all.

What is $20 an hour after taxes in Iowa?

At 40 hours a week, $20 an hour is $41,600 a year gross. After federal tax, Social Security, Medicare and Iowa income tax withholding, that leaves about $34,559 a year, or $2,879.90 a month. Your effective hourly rate — what an hour of work actually puts in your bank account — is $16.61. Iowa’s share is $1,046.80 of income tax withholding for the year.

What are $25 and $30 an hour after taxes in Iowa?

$25 an hour is $52,000 gross and about $42,520 after tax, an effective hourly rate of $20.44. $30 an hour is $62,400 gross and about $50,481 after tax, an effective hourly rate of $24.27. Iowa income tax withholding is $1,442.00 a year at $25 an hour, and $1,837.20 at $30.

Overtime and bonuses

The calculator multiplies your rate by the hours you enter and adds no overtime premium, and it does not model bonuses. The Department’s formula has no separate bonus step, so ask your employer how a bonus is withheld. If you work variable hours, enter the average number of hours you expect to work each week.

Iowa take-home pay by hourly rate

Single filer, 40 hours a week (2,080 hours a year), 2026 rates.

What this calculator does not cover

This tool models federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and the payroll programs your state actually runs — nothing more. It deliberately leaves out:

• Itemized deductions and federal tax credits — the Child Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit, education credits. The engine always applies the standard deduction; there is no itemizing path.
• A second job, self-employment income or 1099 pay. Every dollar you enter is treated as one employer’s W-2 wages, taxed at the employee share of Social Security and Medicare — not the self-employment tax a 1099 worker actually owes.
• Pre-tax benefits other than the 401(k) field — health insurance premiums, an HSA or FSA, commuter benefits. The only amount taken out before tax is the percentage you enter for a 401(k).
• Local taxes — the school district surtax, plus an emergency medical services surtax built into the listed rates in six counties, which Iowa figures on your return as a percentage of your Iowa income tax. The 2026 IA W-4 tells employees who live in a district with a surtax to consider fewer allowances or extra withholding, and the withholding formula we read has no surtax step. This calculator adds no local line for Iowa. The only local income tax lines on this site are on the Indiana and Maryland calculators.
• Overtime premiums. An hourly rate is multiplied by the hours you enter; it does not add a time-and-a-half rate for hours worked past 40 in a week.
• Wage garnishments or court-ordered deductions — child support, a wage levy. Your result assumes none exist.
• The Additional Medicare Tax, at the single-filer threshold. The 0.9% surtax above $200,000 is applied at that one figure for every filing status, the way an employer actually withholds it — not the higher threshold a married couple filing jointly may end up owing at tax return time.
• Married filing separately, or a qualifying surviving spouse. The calculator only offers single, married filing jointly, and head of household.

None of these are in the estimate. Some of them change what you owe or get back when you file, and a calculator cannot ask for everything they depend on. See why your pay stub will differ for the details.

Key facts that affect your take-home pay in Iowa

The withholding deduction is not the federal standard deduction

The Iowa Department of Revenue says so in writing: the deduction amount in the formula “is not the same as the federal standard deduction amount.” For a single filer it is $13,000, while the federal standard deduction the IA W-4 instructions use is $16,100 ($24,150 for a head of household and $32,200 for a married couple filing jointly). The deduction is worth $494.00 a year to a single filer at 3.8%, and twice that to a married filer whose spouse does not earn.

Nothing is withheld on the first part of a single filer’s pay

A single filer with one $40 allowance has nothing withheld on pay up to about $14,053 a year. At $14,052 the allowance is larger than the tax, so Iowa withholds $0.00, and at $14,053 it withholds $0.01. At $30,000, Iowa withholds $606.00 a year.

A spouse who earns changes the column

The IA W-4 asks married filers whether the spouse also has earned income. The Department’s instructions say that if you select married filing jointly and answer yes, “the withholding calculation will be completed as if you are using filing status single.” So the $26,000 deduction applies only when your spouse has no earned income. On $75,000 that is $1,782.00 withheld for a married filer in this calculator, against $2,316.00 on the single deduction. Their federal tax differs too, so take-home pay is $62,841 for a married filer and $59,277 for a single filer.

Head of household has its own column

Iowa prints a separate head-of-household table: a $19,500 deduction and an $80 allowance. On $75,000 Iowa withholds $2,029.00 for a head of household, and take-home pay is $61,486.

The allowance is a credit, and claiming $0 means the most withholding

The allowances on the IA W-4 are dollar amounts that come off the tax after it is figured, not off your pay. The form gives $40 for yourself, $80 if you are unmarried and eligible to file as head of household, and $40 more for a spouse who does not work or does not claim allowances on a separate W-4. It also says that to have the highest amount of tax withheld, you should claim “$0” on line 1. On $75,000 that would mean $2,356.00 withheld instead of $2,316.00.

School district surtax is not part of the standard withholding

Iowa school districts can charge a surtax, a percentage of your Iowa income tax. The return instructions we read say to “multiply the amount on line 18 by the surtax rate,” and that taxpayers without children, or without children in public school, are still subject to it. The Department’s list for 2025 runs from 0% to 20% depending on the district, and the rates listed for six counties (Appanoose, Cass, Pocahontas, Sac, Shelby and Winnebago) already include a 1% emergency medical services surtax. We did not read a 2026 list. The 2026 IA W-4 tells employees who live in a district with a surtax to consider reducing their allowances or having extra tax withheld, and the withholding formula we read has no surtax step. As an illustration only, a district at 10% would add about $231.60 on an Iowa tax of $2,316.00, and one at 20% would add about $463.20. This calculator adds neither.

Your employer pays unemployment tax, not you

Iowa Workforce Development says Iowa employers pay unemployment insurance taxes for each employee, and the Code of Iowa (section 96.15) says no employer shall make or accept any deduction from wages to finance its own unemployment contributions. Because the employer pays it, it does not change your take-home pay, and this calculator uses no employer wage base. We also found no state disability insurance or paid family leave program run through payroll. That is a statement about what we read, not a guarantee that nothing else can come out of your pay.

Your 401(k) lowers your Iowa wages in this calculator

The formula says certain payments made by the employer into employee retirement plans or for employee health insurance are not considered taxable wages. It does not say how your own contribution is treated, so treating it as lowering your wages is our modeling choice, the same one we make for federal tax and every other state on this site. On $75,000 with 6% going in, Iowa income tax withholding falls by $171.00 a year. If your contribution is a Roth, enter 0 in the 401(k) field.

Social Security stops, Medicare does not

Social Security is withheld at 6.2% until your wages reach $184,500 in 2026, then stops for the rest of the year. Medicare has no ceiling at all: 1.45% on every dollar, plus an extra 0.9% on wages above $200,000. On $250,000, Social Security and Medicare take $15,514.00 in total.

Common mistakes

Using the federal standard deduction instead of $13,000

The two are different numbers. Taking $16,100 instead of $13,000 understates Iowa withholding by $117.80 on $75,000: $2,198.20 instead of $2,316.00.

Forgetting the deduction

Applying 3.8% to the full $75,000 instead of $62,000 overstates Iowa withholding by $494.00: $2,810.00 instead of $2,316.00.

Treating the allowance as a deduction from pay

A $40 allowance takes $40 off the tax, not $40 off your pay. Subtracting it from your pay first would change the tax by only $1.52.

Picking “no earned income” for a spouse who works

If your spouse works and you both pick the $26,000 column, too little is withheld from each check. If you each earn $75,000, the gap is $534.00 a year for each of you, and you could owe it when you file. Answering yes to the spouse question puts you on the single deduction.

Expecting the surtax to be withheld automatically

It is figured on your return and is not a step in the withholding formula we read, so if you live in a district with a surtax, your final bill will be higher than the withholding on your pay stub suggests. You can ask your employer to withhold extra on your IA W-4.

Expecting the calculator to match the pay stub to the dollar

It will not, and no calculator can. Health insurance premiums and other pre-tax benefit deductions come out before tax and are not modeled here, and the allowances on your IA W-4 may differ from the ones we assume. Read why your pay stub will differ for the rest.

Example calculation

Amounts are shown to the cent, so adding the rounded lines can differ from the total by a cent.

A single filer earning $75,000 in Iowa in 2026, claiming one $40 allowance and making no retirement contribution:

• Federal taxable income: $75,000 − federal standard deduction of $16,100 = $58,900
• Federal income tax: $7,670.00
• Social Security: $75,000 × 6.2% = $4,650.00
• Medicare: $75,000 × 1.45% = $1,087.50
• Iowa base: $75,000 − $13,000 deduction = $62,000
• Iowa tax before the allowance: $62,000 × 3.8% = $2,356.00
• Iowa income tax withholding: $2,356.00 − $40 allowance = $2,316.00 a year, $193.00 on a monthly paycheck or $89.08 on a biweekly one
• Total withheld: $15,723.50
• Take-home pay: $59,276.50 a year, or $4,939.71 a month
• Effective tax rate: 21.0%

Frequently asked questions

Compare with other states

The same $75,000 salary, single filer, 2026 rates. Iowa borders six states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Nebraska, South Dakota and Missouri. We have a calculator for the first five; Missouri is not published yet. For Iowa, the state-level deductions are only the income tax withholding; the other states may add payroll programs.

The table rounds take-home pay to the dollar; the differences in this paragraph use the exact amounts. Compared with an Iowa worker on the same salary, an Illinois worker keeps $1,251.71 less, a Minnesota worker keeps $1,590.60 less, a Wisconsin worker keeps $627.52 less, a Nebraska worker keeps $216.96 less, and a South Dakota worker keeps $2,316.00 more. South Dakota’s page documents that it levies no state tax on wages. A worker who lives in one of those states and commutes into Iowa is a different case that this calculator does not model: it assumes an Iowa resident working in Iowa.

Sources

Every figure on this page is read from an official document and dated, not taken from another calculator — the federal ones from the IRS and the Social Security Administration, the Iowa ones from the state’s own documents below. Each one carries the date we last checked that it still answers. If one of our numbers disagrees with one of theirs, they are right and we have a defect to fix — tell us.

The documents these figures are read from

• Iowa Department of Revenue — Iowa Individual Income Tax Withholding Formula, effective January 1, 2026 (PDF) — the four-step withholding formula (a $13,000, $19,500 or $26,000 deduction, 3.8%, then the allowance amount divided by the pay periods) and its worked examples.
• Iowa Department of Revenue — Updated Tables, Iowa withholding tax information — the 2026 withholding formula and the printed wage-bracket tables, published as Excel workbooks for each pay period.
• Iowa Department of Revenue — 2026 IA W-4, Employee Withholding Allowance Certificate and instructions (PDF) — the $40 allowance for yourself ($80 for an unmarried head of household), the allowance for a spouse who does not work, and the advice on school district surtax.
• Iowa Department of Revenue — IDR announces 2026 individual income tax and interest rates (October 21, 2025) — the statement that Iowa law provides for a flat tax rate of 3.8 percent in 2026.
• Iowa Department of Revenue — IA 1040 expanded instructions, School District Surtax and Emergency Medical Services surtax — how the surtax is figured on the return (the tax on line 18 times the surtax rate), and which counties have an EMS surtax.
• Iowa Department of Revenue — Iowa counties, school district numbers and surtax rates for 2025 (PDF) — the 2025 surtax rate of each school district, from 0% to 20%.
• Iowa Workforce Development — news release of June 30, 2025 on unemployment insurance (PDF) — the statement that Iowa employers pay unemployment insurance taxes for each employee.
• Iowa Code — section 96.15, Waiver, fees, assignments, penalties (unemployment compensation) — the rule that no employer may make or accept any deduction from wages to finance the employer’s unemployment contributions.
• IRS — 2026 inflation adjustments (Rev. Proc. 2025-32) — the federal brackets and the $16,100 standard deduction.
• IRS — Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates — the 6.2% and 1.45% rates and the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax.
• SSA — Contribution and benefit base — the $184,500 Social Security wage base.

All links checked October 7, 2026.

Related reading

• Paycheck calculators by state — the full index, including which states have no income tax at all.
• Minnesota paycheck calculator — the neighbor to the north.
• Wisconsin paycheck calculator — the neighbor to the northeast.
• Illinois paycheck calculator — the neighbor to the east.
• Nebraska paycheck calculator — the neighbor to the west.
• South Dakota paycheck calculator — the neighbor to the northwest; that page documents why it levies no state tax on wages.
• $75,000 take-home pay in every state we publish — where Iowa ranks on one salary.
• Methodology — the exact formula, every 2026 figure with its official source, and what these calculators deliberately do not model.
• Why your pay stub will differ — pre-tax deductions, credits and W-4 settings, and how much difference is normal.