Northwest Iowa nonmetropolitan area Salaries

BLS nonmetropolitan reporting area wages for Northwest Iowa nonmetropolitan area (May 2025)

General and Operations Managers shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Northwest Iowa nonmetropolitan area

General and Operations Managers publishes $81,400 here versus $105,770 nationally (-23.0%; 3,050metro-area jobs). Next is Registered Nurses at $79,460 locally versus $97,550 nationally (-18.5%).

  1. General and Operations Managers$81,400 in Northwest Iowa nonmetropolitan area sits 23.0% below the national General and Operations Managers median of $105,770 (3,050 published local jobs).
  2. Registered Nurses$79,460 in Northwest Iowa nonmetropolitan area sits 18.5% below the national Registered Nurses median of $97,550 (3,190 published local jobs).
  3. Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary$30,380 in Northwest Iowa nonmetropolitan area sits 17.4% below the national Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary median of $36,780 (3,070 published local jobs).
  4. Retail Salespersons$29,990 in Northwest Iowa nonmetropolitan area sits 15.3% below the national Retail Salespersons median of $35,410 (3,060 published local jobs).

General and Operations Managers and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Northwest Iowa nonmetropolitan area; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.

BLS OEWS metro wage desk

MSA 1900002 · Northwest Iowa nonmetropolitan area $54K mean

MEAN-LOW · RPP-UNK · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-UNK · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL

  • MEAN-LOW #387/528
  • RPP-UNK RPP n/a
  • OCC-MID 368 occs
  • TOP-LEAD Physicians, Al… · $279K
  • EMP-MIX Financial Ma…
  • TREND-UNK Pay chg n/a
  • PHOTO-FINISH Ocala, FL
  • BOOK-FULL 365 rows · May 2025

Read with Ocala, FL ($53 on published-row mean) · Understanding BLS wage data

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 Northwest Iowa nonmetropoli…

Guayama, PR · lowest mean: $32KGuayama, PR · lowest mean$32KNorthwest Iowa nonme… · this MSA: $54KNorthwest Iowa nonme… · this…$54KOcala, FL · near: $54KOcala, FL · near$54KHilton Head Island-B… · near: $54KHilton Head Island-B… · near$54KShreveport-Bossier C… · near: $54KShreveport-Bossier C… · near$54KEast South Dakota no… · near: $54KEast South Dakota no… · near$54KSan Jose-Sunnyvale-S… · highest mean: $119KSan Jose-Sunnyvale-S… · high…$119K
Read the chart as text
Label Value
Guayama, PR · lowest mean $32K
Northwest Iowa nonme… · this MSA $54K
Ocala, FL · near $54K
Hilton Head Island-B… · near $54K
Shreveport-Bossier C… · near $54K
East South Dakota no… · near $54K
San Jose-Sunnyvale-S… · highest mean $119K

Largest published OEWS rows in this nonmetropolitan area

Financial Managers and Industrial Production Managers lead published employment inside Northwest Iowa nonmetropolitan area's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.

  1. 1. Financial Managers 680 jobs · $113,290
  2. 2. Industrial Production Managers 500 jobs · $104,210
  3. 3. Nurse Practitioners 270 jobs · $128,530
  4. 4. Pharmacists 240 jobs · $134,590
  5. 5. Managers, All Other 230 jobs · $131,210
  6. 6. Chief Executives 210 jobs · $182,650
  7. 7. Sales Managers 190 jobs · $133,860
  8. 8. Software Developers 170 jobs · $107,610
  9. 9. Computer and Information Systems Managers 130 jobs · $124,370
  10. 10. Family Medicine Physicians 110 jobs · $239,560
  11. 11. Veterinarians 110 jobs · $117,340
  12. 12. Dentists, General 90 jobs · $158,180
  13. 13. Marketing Managers 90 jobs · $130,280
  14. 14. Human Resources Managers 90 jobs · $120,330
  15. 15. Architectural and Engineering Managers 80 jobs · $136,710
  16. 16. Electrical Engineers 80 jobs · $110,740
  17. 17. Physician Assistants 70 jobs · $129,930
  18. 18. Optometrists 60 jobs · $119,490

Occupations Tracked

368

with wage data

Published-Row Mean

$53,942

employment-weighted, 365 complete rows

Top Salary

$278,630

Physicians, All Other

Top-pay occupations in Northwest Iowa nonmetropolitan area, 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 $113,290
2 Industrial Production Managers $104,210
3 Nurse Practitioners $128,530
4 Pharmacists $134,590
5 Managers, All Other $131,210
6 Chief Executives $182,650
7 Sales Managers $133,860
8 Software Developers $107,610
9 Computer and Information Systems Managers $124,370
10 Family Medicine Physicians $239,560
11 Veterinarians $117,340
12 Dentists, General $158,180
13 Marketing Managers $130,280
14 Human Resources Managers $120,330
15 Architectural and Engineering Managers $136,710
16 Electrical Engineers $110,740
17 Physician Assistants $129,930
18 Optometrists $119,490
19 Purchasing Managers $114,830
20 Natural Sciences Managers $130,510
21 Nurse Anesthetists $124,470
22 Administrative Services Managers $105,280
23 Physicians, All Other $278,630
24 Clinical and Counseling Psychologists $106,850
25 Information Security Analysts $115,600

Lowest Paying Jobs in Northwest Iowa nonmetropolitan area

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 ($53,942 here) and summed published employment.

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 average wage does BLS publish for this nonmetropolitan area?
BLS does not publish a single All Occupations mean for every nonmetropolitan reporting area on this page. WageDex's employment-weighted mean of the 365 published occupation means with employment estimates is $53,942/year (OEWS May 2025). That figure covers only occupations BLS published for this local area — 368 rows carry a median here. Averaging the 25 highest medians alone yields $135,962, which describes the displayed top tier only.
What is the highest paying job in Northwest Iowa nonmetropolitan area?
The highest paying occupation in Northwest Iowa nonmetropolitan area is Physicians, All Other with a median salary of $278,630/year. The second highest is Family Medicine Physicians at $239,560/year.
What jobs pay the least in Northwest Iowa nonmetropolitan area?
The lowest paying occupation in Northwest Iowa nonmetropolitan area is Waiters and Waitresses with a median salary of $20,470/year according to BLS data.
Where do these nonmetropolitan wage rows come from?
Every occupation wage on this page is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2025 estimates for BLS nonmetropolitan reporting areas. OEWS surveys about 1.1 million establishments; nonmetro tables use BLS's balance-of-state geography, not a city MSA. WageDex does not invent missing occupations — only published rows appear.

Related federal data

Last updated: May 2025 (BLS OEWS annual release). Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025.

Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Occupation rows use BLS OEWS May 2025. The local-area 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.

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