Cedar Rapids, IA Salaries
Local wages where BEA prices sit below the US average (RPP 89.0) - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Cedar Rapids, IA moved from $48,570 in May 2024 to $49,360 in May 2025 (+1.6%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Cedar Rapids, IA sits -1.5 pp behind that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Registered Nurses shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Cedar Rapids, IA
Registered Nurses publishes $78,370 here versus $97,550 nationally (-19.7%; 2,880metro-area jobs). Next is General and Operations Managers at $90,620 locally versus $105,770 nationally (-14.3%).
- Registered Nurses$78,370 in Cedar Rapids, IA sits 19.7% below the national Registered Nurses median of $97,550 (2,880 published local jobs).
- General and Operations Managers$90,620 in Cedar Rapids, IA sits 14.3% below the national General and Operations Managers median of $105,770 (2,860 published local jobs).
- Cashiers$29,270 in Cedar Rapids, IA sits 11.0% below the national Cashiers median of $32,880 (3,090 published local jobs).
- Fast Food and Counter Workers$28,280 in Cedar Rapids, IA sits 9.4% below the national Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $31,200 (3,590 published local jobs).
Registered Nurses and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Cedar Rapids, IA; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 16300 · Cedar Rapids, IA $60K mean
MEAN-MID · RPP-LOW · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-MID #195/528
- RPP-LOW 89.0
- OCC-MID 389 occs
- TOP-LEAD Family Medicin… · $260K
- EMP-MIX Software Dev…
- TREND-INLINE -1.5 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Eastern Wyoming…
- BOOK-FULL 382 rows · May 2025
Read with Eastern Wyoming nonmetropolitan area ($35 on published-row mean) · Salary vs. cost of living
Instrument codes from this MSA’s OEWS published-row mean, BEA RPP, occupation book, employment lead, All Occupations pay change, and nearest peer, not a moving recommendation.
Published-row mean neighbourhood around Cedar Rapids, IA
Where Cedar Rapids, IA already employs the upper wage tier
Software Developers and Financial Managers lead published employment inside Cedar Rapids, IA's top-pay sample, order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Software Developers 1,250 jobs · $114,340
- 2. Financial Managers 780 jobs · $134,020
- 3. Computer and Information Systems Managers 470 jobs · $129,910
- 4. Managers, All Other 340 jobs · $122,110
- 5. Lawyers 330 jobs · $137,570
- 6. Sales Managers 320 jobs · $131,510
- 7. Industrial Production Managers 310 jobs · $118,000
- 8. Chief Executives 290 jobs · $182,210
- 9. Marketing Managers 250 jobs · $133,330
- 10. Pharmacists 240 jobs · $133,520
- 11. Nurse Practitioners 240 jobs · $129,890
- 12. Education Administrators, Postsecondary 220 jobs · $108,400
- 13. Architectural and Engineering Managers 170 jobs · $152,530
- 14. Human Resources Managers 160 jobs · $130,430
- 15. Dentists, General 130 jobs · $175,420
- 16. First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives 130 jobs · $120,030
- 17. Veterinarians 100 jobs · $127,160
- 18. Family Medicine Physicians 80 jobs · $260,440
Occupations Tracked
389
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$60,068
employment-weighted, 382 complete rows
Top Salary
$260,440
Family Medicine Physicians
Cost of Living
89.0
11% below US avg
Top-pay occupations in Cedar Rapids, IA, by employment
Same top-pay sample as the salary ranking, sorted by published local jobs so the title sequence follows the OEWS mix.
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Software Developers | $114,340 |
| 2 | Financial Managers | $134,020 |
| 3 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $129,910 |
| 4 | Managers, All Other | $122,110 |
| 5 | Lawyers | $137,570 |
| 6 | Sales Managers | $131,510 |
| 7 | Industrial Production Managers | $118,000 |
| 8 | Chief Executives | $182,210 |
| 9 | Marketing Managers | $133,330 |
| 10 | Pharmacists | $133,520 |
| 11 | Nurse Practitioners | $129,890 |
| 12 | Education Administrators, Postsecondary | $108,400 |
| 13 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $152,530 |
| 14 | Human Resources Managers | $130,430 |
| 15 | Dentists, General | $175,420 |
| 16 | First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives | $120,030 |
| 17 | Veterinarians | $127,160 |
| 18 | Family Medicine Physicians | $260,440 |
| 19 | Physician Assistants | $129,680 |
| 20 | Information Security Analysts | $109,290 |
| 21 | Computer Hardware Engineers | $161,160 |
| 22 | Public Relations Managers | $121,320 |
| 23 | Purchasing Managers | $112,010 |
| 24 | Engineers, All Other | $111,080 |
| 25 | Training and Development Managers | $116,580 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Cedar Rapids, IA
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Bartenders | $21,600 |
| Waiters and Waitresses | $21,670 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $23,640 |
| Personal Care and Service Workers, All Other | $24,600 |
| Parking Attendants | $26,270 |
| Real Estate Sales Agents | $26,520 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $28,050 |
| Library Assistants, Clerical | $28,140 |
| Childcare Workers | $28,170 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $28,280 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in IA
Other metropolitan or nonmetropolitan OEWS areas assigned to the same state. Cross-state pay and employment peers live in Nationwide similar metros below.
Nationwide metros with similar published-row mean pay or employment scale
Two OEWS peer sets outside IA. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($60,068 here) and summed published employment.
Similar mean wage
Nearest other metros by employment-weighted published-row annual mean wage.
Similar employment scale
Nearest headcount peers (floor 100,000 summed published jobs), distinct from the mean-wage column.
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on BLS OEWS employment-weighted published-row mean wage and summed occupation employment. Employment peers exclude metros already listed in the mean-wage column so the two link sets stay distinct. Mean wage here is not a worker-level median.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the lower price level do to Cedar Rapids, IA wage reading? ▼
What is the highest paying job in Cedar Rapids, IA? ▼
What jobs pay the least in Cedar Rapids, IA? ▼
Which federal tables feed Cedar Rapids, IA's wage and price figures? ▼
Related federal data
What to do with this data
How to use Cedar Rapids, IA wage figures in a real decision
- Family Medicine Physicians leads published medians in Cedar Rapids, IA at $260,440/year; open the occupation for percentile bands and state rows. Family Medicine Physicians
- The employment-weighted published-row mean of $60,068 adjusts to about $67,520 on a national-price basis at BEA RPP 89.0. Salary vs cost of living
- Compare this metropolitan statistical area against the statewide occupation table for IA before treating one geography as the other. State wage page
BLS OEWS estimates reflect the May 2025 reference period; small occupation-area cells can be suppressed, and figures are not employer offers.
Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Occupation rows use BLS OEWS May 2025. The metro benchmark is WageDex's employment-weighted mean of published occupation means; where BEA RPP is available, the price-level figure divides that benchmark by the published area parity. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.