Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $39K, rent takes 40.5% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,064/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $800/month in rent — so roommates or a 1-bedroom would ease the math significantly.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new teaching assistants, postsecondaries typically earn — is $23K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $1,367/month. At HUD’s $1,064/month FMR, rent would take 78% 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 — $39K locally vs. $43K nationally, a 9% difference.

Iowa pays $39K median vs. the U.S. average of $43K — that’s -9%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 88.86), the purchasing-power equivalent is $44K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $38,960 a year. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $22,790, and experienced teaching assistants, postsecondaries can clear $66,080. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $2,629/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,064/month, which eats 40.5% of your paycheck. That's above the 30% rule of thumb, housing will be a stretch at the median salary, though you can manage with roommates or a smaller place.

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 teaching assistants, postsecondary salary is worth about $43,844 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.