Iowa City, IA
Iowa City, IA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Iowa City, IA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Iowa City ranks 129th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 154th for income. A household earns $75,225 a year while median rent runs $1,099/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 8% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is commute (6th of 300), while hazard safety is the soft spot (214th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 82nd and home prices 160th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Iowa City, your take-home is worth about $63,888 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 154th of 300↑18%$75,225
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 78th of 30092 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $82,205
- Per-capita income
- $43,908
- Full-time pay
- $37,224
Housing
- Median rent
- 82nd of 300↑17.9%$1,099/mo
- Home value
- 160th of 300↑30.5%$315,200
- Property tax
- $4,585/yr · 1.5%
- Sales tax
- 6.94%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 19th of 3002.7%
- Bachelor's+
- 14th of 30052%
- Avg commute
- 6th of 30018.5 min
People
- Population
- 182,711
- Population change
- +5.5%
- Median age
- 33.2 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 9.2%
- Broadband
- 90.2%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 52nd of 30039
- Natural-hazard loss
- 214th of 300$16/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 26th of 30015.3%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 6.6%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Job market
- + Education
- + Commute
- + Air quality
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — iowa city muni ap.
What jobs pay in Iowa City
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $208,900
- Pharmacists
- $142,530
- IT managers
- $134,210
- Financial managers
- $132,220
- Lawyers
- $127,210
- Software developers
- $107,680
- Civil engineers
- $93,020
- Registered nurses
- $85,940
- General & operations managers
- $81,120
- Police officers
- $76,190
- Accountants & auditors
- $75,100
- Secondary school teachers
- $62,100
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $61,960
- Plumbers
- $61,350
- Elementary school teachers
- $60,870
- Electricians
- $59,510
- Carpenters
- $49,680
- Construction laborers
- $47,940
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $47,760
- Customer service reps
- $42,340
- Janitors
- $37,660
- Retail salespersons
- $29,940
- Cashiers
- $29,080
- Waiters & waitresses
- $22,030
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Iowa City metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Iowa are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Illinois2,383
- Minnesota763
- California669
- Wisconsin439
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Iowa City
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Iowa City metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Iowa City metro?
- Median gross rent across the Iowa City, IA Metro Area is $1,099 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Iowa City.
- What is the median household income in the Iowa City metro?
- A typical household in the Iowa City, IA Metro Area earns $75,225 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Iowa City expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Iowa City, IA Metro Area runs about 8% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Iowa City metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $82,205 (versus its face value of $75,225). CityLedger rates the Iowa City, IA Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Iowa City metro?
- The median home value across the Iowa City, IA Metro Area is $315,200 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Iowa City metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Iowa City, IA Metro Area is 2.7% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).