Special Education Teachers, All Other Salary

Yes — at the median salary of $71K, rent takes 23.3% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,064/month. That stays under the 30% guideline most financial planners use.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new special education teachers, all others typically earn — is $36K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,183/month. At HUD’s $1,064/month FMR, rent would take 49% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Pay here is roughly in line with the national average — $71K locally vs. $77K nationally, a 7% difference.

Iowa pays $71K median vs. the U.S. average of $77K — that’s -7%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 88.86), the purchasing-power equivalent is $80K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $71,050 a year. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $36,390, and experienced special education teachers, all others can clear $90,870. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $4,562/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,064/month, which eats 23.3% of your paycheck. That's under the 30% guideline most financial planners use, so the numbers work.

Iowa has a Regional Price Parity of 88.86 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median special education teachers, all other salary is worth about $79,957 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.