Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School Salary

Yes — at the median salary of $60K, rent takes 26.8% 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, kindergarten and elementary schools typically earn — is $47K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,849/month. At HUD’s $1,064/month FMR, rent would take 37% 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 — $60K locally vs. $65K nationally, a 7% difference.

Iowa pays $60K median vs. the U.S. average of $65K — that’s -7%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 88.86), the purchasing-power equivalent is $68K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $60,440 a year. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $47,490, and experienced special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary schools can clear $77,260. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $3,965/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,064/month, which eats 26.8% 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, kindergarten and elementary school salary is worth about $68,017 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.