Special Education Teachers, Preschool Salary

Yes — at the median salary of $64K, rent takes 25.6% 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, preschools typically earn — is $36K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,175/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 — $64K locally vs. $65K nationally, a 2% difference.

Iowa pays $64K median vs. the U.S. average of $65K — that’s -2%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 88.86), the purchasing-power equivalent is $72K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $63,540 a year. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $36,250, and experienced special education teachers, preschools can clear $72,980. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $4,158/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,064/month, which eats 25.6% 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, preschool salary is worth about $71,506 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.