Dubuque, IA Salaries
Local wages where BEA prices sit below the US average (RPP 87.3) - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Dubuque, IA moved from $47,910 in May 2024 to $48,750 in May 2025 (+1.8%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Dubuque, IA sits -1.3 pp behind that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 20220 · Dubuque, IA $59K mean
MEAN-MID · RPP-QUIET · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-MOST
- MEAN-MID #234/528
- RPP-QUIET 87.3
- OCC-MID 249 occs
- TOP-LEAD Physicians, Al… · $310K
- EMP-MIX Financial Ma…
- TREND-INLINE -1.3 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Janesville-Beloi…
- BOOK-MOST 247 rows · May 2025
Read with Janesville-Beloit, WI ($3 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 Dubuque, IA
Where Dubuque, IA already employs the upper wage tier
Financial Managers and Software Developers lead published employment inside Dubuque, IA's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Financial Managers 390 jobs · $126,980
- 2. Software Developers 330 jobs · $105,360
- 3. Project Management Specialists 290 jobs · $104,690
- 4. Architectural and Engineering Managers 230 jobs · $149,300
- 5. Industrial Engineers 230 jobs · $109,040
- 6. Industrial Production Managers 190 jobs · $101,850
- 7. Sales Managers 160 jobs · $130,980
- 8. Managers, All Other 150 jobs · $104,900
- 9. Pharmacists 140 jobs · $145,390
- 10. Nurse Practitioners 130 jobs · $129,620
- 11. Computer and Information Systems Managers 120 jobs · $136,670
- 12. Chief Executives 100 jobs · $212,880
- 13. Lawyers 100 jobs · $109,270
- 14. Marketing Managers 90 jobs · $127,280
- 15. Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers 90 jobs · $116,010
- 16. Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary 90 jobs · $102,660
- 17. Construction Managers 80 jobs · $102,240
- 18. Human Resources Managers 70 jobs · $129,670
Occupations Tracked
249
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$58,631
employment-weighted, 247 complete rows
Top Salary
$309,930
Physicians, All Other
Cost of Living
87.3
13% below US avg
Top-pay occupations in Dubuque, 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 | Financial Managers | $126,980 |
| 2 | Software Developers | $105,360 |
| 3 | Project Management Specialists | $104,690 |
| 4 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $149,300 |
| 5 | Industrial Engineers | $109,040 |
| 6 | Industrial Production Managers | $101,850 |
| 7 | Sales Managers | $130,980 |
| 8 | Managers, All Other | $104,900 |
| 9 | Pharmacists | $145,390 |
| 10 | Nurse Practitioners | $129,620 |
| 11 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $136,670 |
| 12 | Chief Executives | $212,880 |
| 13 | Lawyers | $109,270 |
| 14 | Marketing Managers | $127,280 |
| 15 | Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers | $116,010 |
| 16 | Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary | $102,660 |
| 17 | Construction Managers | $102,240 |
| 18 | Human Resources Managers | $129,670 |
| 19 | Administrative Services Managers | $119,770 |
| 20 | Electrical Engineers | $104,290 |
| 21 | Dentists, General | $161,140 |
| 22 | First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives | $113,920 |
| 23 | Physicians, All Other | $309,930 |
| 24 | Physician Assistants | $126,050 |
| 25 | Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers | $100,170 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Dubuque, IA
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Waiters and Waitresses | $20,060 |
| Bartenders | $21,720 |
| Gambling Dealers | $24,290 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $27,110 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $27,670 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $28,340 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $28,680 |
| Dishwashers | $29,380 |
| Animal Caretakers | $29,420 |
| Shuttle Drivers and Chauffeurs | $29,500 |
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 ($58,631 here) and summed published employment.
Similar mean wage
Nearest other metros by employment-weighted published-row annual mean wage.
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
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Related federal data
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.