Iowa residents are among the lowest hourly earners in the country, according to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its total private average hourly earnings by state, along with the average weekly earnings and the average number of hours Americans work per week as of May 2025.
Here’s the average hourly salary for Iowa and how it compares to other states.
What is the average hourly pay in Iowa?
On average, residents in the Hawkeye State earn $30.38 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This figure is not seasonally adjusted.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics also noted that the average worker in Iowa works 33.9 hours per week, which translates to a weekly salary of $1,029.88 and a yearly salary of $53,553.76.
Iowa’s average hourly pay is the seventh lowest in the country, with only Kentucky, West Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Mississippi having lower hourly pay.
How does Iowa’s average hourly pay compare to other Midwest states?
Where do people earn the most per hour?
Employees in the nation’s capital of Washington, D.C., earn the most money with an average hourly pay of $52.97 per hour.
Out of all 50 states, here are the places with the highest average hourly pay:
Iowa is one of three states with an unemployment rate increase from April to May 2025
In May, three states experienced increases in their unemployment rates, according to the most recent state-level data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Massachusetts rose by 0.2 percentage points, while Virginia and Iowa each saw a 0.1-point increase. Iowa’s rate rose from 3.5% to 3.6%.
Two states — Indiana and New York — experienced decreases in their unemployment rates, while the unemployment rates of the remaining 45 states and the District of Columbia remained largely unchanged from the previous month.
The unemployment rate across the U.S. was 4.1% in June, translating to roughly 7 million people. The unemployment rate has stayed between 4% and 4.2% since May 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
USA TODAY network reporter Margie Cullen contributed to this report.
Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: What’s Iowa’s average hourly pay? The state ranks among the lowest in the US for wages
Reporting by Cooper Worth, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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