Teaching Assistants Average Salary in Iowa
$31,441 average · $31,441 median · BLS OEWS 2025
SOC Code: 25-9040What is this?
Combined BLS estimate across: Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary, Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary
This page shows employer-reported wages for Teaching Assistants in Iowa, drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS survey — median and mean pay, the full percentile distribution, and the industries that employ this occupation locally. The salary schedule rewards exactly two things: years of service and accumulated credentials (master's degrees, additional certifications), each with published dollar values. Across states, the differences are large and persistent — the same teacher can earn 60-80% more by crossing certain state lines, though cost-of-living adjustment narrows some of that gap. Summer work, coaching stipends, and department-head roles add increments the base data does not show.
How much do Teaching Assistants make in Iowa?
The average teaching assistants salary in Iowa is $31,441 per year. That works out to about $15.12 per hour on average. BLS counts roughly 25,080 teaching assistants jobs in Iowa.
Mean and median are close, so pay is relatively concentrated around $31,441. Entry-level roles (10th percentile) report about $31,441; experienced workers at the 90th percentile report about $31,441 — a 0% spread from bottom to top. Figures are employer-reported wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program — not self-reported survey averages — so they are the right baseline for offers, raises, and relocation decisions in this market.
How Educational Instruction and Library Careers Are Structured
Teaching wages are set by public salary schedules in most states, which makes this one of the most transparent and predictable occupational groups in the data — and one where the state-to-state differences shown here are unusually decisive, because individual negotiation plays almost no role.
The wage tables and percentile chart on this page show how teaching assistants pay is distributed in Iowa specifically — and because state-level wages for the same occupation routinely differ by 30% or more, the local figures here are the ones that matter for offers, raises, and relocation decisions in this market.
What Moves Pay in This Field
The salary schedule rewards exactly two things: years of service and accumulated credentials (master's degrees, additional certifications), each with published dollar values. Across states, the differences are large and persistent — the same teacher can earn 60-80% more by crossing certain state lines, though cost-of-living adjustment narrows some of that gap. Summer work, coaching stipends, and department-head roles add increments the base data does not show.
Entry requires state certification, typically via an education degree or a post-baccalaureate credential program; alternative certification routes exist in most states for career-changers. Because pay is schedule-driven, the highest-leverage decisions are made early: which state, which district, and whether to invest in the master’s degree that lifts the entire remaining career’s schedule placement.
New to reading wage distributions? Our guide to salary percentiles explains how to place yourself on the chart above, and the negotiation playbook shows how to use these numbers in an actual conversation.
What Do Teaching Assistants Do?
Teaching Assistants positions belong to the educational instruction and library field. Teaching wages are set by public salary schedules in most states, which makes this one of the most transparent and predictable occupational groups in the data — and one where the state-to-state differences shown here are unusually decisive, because individual negotiation plays almost no role.
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Code: 25-9040
Teaching Assistants pay in Iowa
In Iowa, teaching assistants report a median of $31,441 (about $15.12/hour) across roughly 25,080 jobs. The local pay band runs from about $31,441 at the 10th percentile to $31,441 at the 90th.
Compared with the national distribution, local industry mix and cost of living are the main reasons Iowa wages for this occupation sit where they do — toggle Regional Price Parity on this page to see purchasing-power-adjusted pay.
What your paycheck is really worth in Iowa
Prices in Iowa run 12% below the national average (RPP 87.8). So a nominal salary of $31,441 has the buying power of about $35,825 in national terms.
Iowa vs. United States for Teaching Assistants
The median teaching assistants salary in Iowa is $31,441, which is -20.5% below the national median of $39,531 (mean pay is -20.2% below the U.S. mean of $39,388). Among 51 states and D.C. with OEWS data, Iowa ranks #42 by median wage for this occupation (near the bottom of the distribution). Iowa accounts for about 0.2% of U.S. teaching assistants employment in the latest OEWS release.
See every state ranked for this occupation on the best-paying states page, or compare purchasing power on real wages.
Income reality check
The median salary for Teaching Assistants in Iowa of $31,441 falls in the Low-income band of this framework - roughly ~18% of the U.S. population and ~25% of the global population sit in this band.
Illustrative relative standing for education only - this ladder is a simplified framework, not an official Census, BLS, or World Bank statistical series. Salary figures on Wage Atlas come from official BLS OEWS data.
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AI Replacement Risk Analysis
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- Knowledge-based work - moderate automation risk
- High human interaction requirement
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Occupation Report Card
Top Industries for Teaching Assistants
| $40,714 | $38,456 | N/A | 6,784,470 | |
| $39,171 | $37,135 | N/A | 2,330,770 | |
| $35,720 | $35,240 | N/A | 162,010 | |
| $35,315 | $34,999 | N/A | 295,460 |
Teaching Assistants in Other States
Compare salaries for this occupation across different states:
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Viewing: Teaching Assistants (SOC: 25-9040)