- The middle half earn between $22.91 and $31.69 an hour.
- Iowa ranks 31st of the 50 states and DC for median pay in this trade.
- Iowa pays more than 2 of its 6 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 5,770 carpenters on payrolls in Iowa.
- At the state median wage, a carpentry or remodeling business needs to bill about $119.32 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Carpenter pay in Iowa, bottom to top
The BLS carpenter group covers framing, finish and remodel carpenters, on homes and on commercial jobs.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $18.77 | $39,040 | $19.43 |
| 25th percentile | $22.91 | $47,640 | $23.32 |
| Median | $27.75 | $57,710 | $29.12 |
| 75th percentile | $31.69 | $65,910 | $36.94 |
| 90th percentile | $36.80 | $76,540 | $48.03 |
| Average (mean) | $27.71 | $57,640 | $31.55 |
Pay is bunched up in Iowa. The top tenth earn $36.80 an hour or more, about 2 times the $18.77 at the bottom tenth. Nationally that gap is 2.5 times, so the step from the bottom of the scale to the top is shorter here than in most places.
Both ends trail the national figures. The bottom tenth earn $0.66 an hour less than the bottom tenth nationally, and the top tenth $11.23 less than the national top tenth.
The average, $27.71, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How Iowa compares with other states
Over a full year the gap to the national median is small: $57,710 in Iowa against $60,580 nationally, $2,870 less.
In the state ranking, Iowa sits 31st, between North Dakota ($27.83) and Kansas ($27.39). The range runs from $22.55 in Oklahoma to $41.00 in Hawaii.
Against its neighboring states, Iowa is in the middle: Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin pay more, and Nebraska and South Dakota pay less.
How many carpenters work in Iowa
About 5,770 carpenters work on payrolls in Iowa, 0.9% of the 670,090 nationwide, the 30th largest count among the states.
That is 3.7 of every 1,000 jobs in Iowa, close to the trade's share of jobs nationally.
What a carpentry or remodeling business in Iowa should charge
Say you run a carpentry or remodeling business in Iowa and pay the state median of $27.75 an hour. Here is the labor rate calculator's math on its starting numbers: 40-hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and 15% profit.
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid hours | 40 × 52 | 2,080 |
| Hours at work | 2,080 − 10 days × 8 | 2,000 |
| Billable hours | 2,000 × 6 ÷ 8 | 1,500 |
| Labor cost | $27.75 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $62,136 |
| Break-even rate | ($62,136 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $101.42 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $101.42 ÷ 0.85 | $119.32 |
That is $119.32 per billable hour, 4.3 times the wage, and $2.41 less than the $121.73 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $31.69 in Iowa, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $126.24.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $22.91, the rate only drops to $110.82.
Overhead, at $60 of every billed hour, and the unbilled hours move this rate more than a raise does. A dollar more in wages adds about $1.76 to the rate.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Working as a carpenter in Iowa
- Running the business. Quotes, invoices, booking and your website in one place: how remodelers run on Koira.
- Getting found. The free Koira report checks how your business shows up in search and on maps against shops near you.
Where these numbers come from
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
The figures are the BLS state estimates for SOC 47-2031, carpenters, across all industries, read straight from the May 2025 state data file. They cover wage and salary workers, not the self-employed. Where BLS did not publish a figure, this page leaves it out.
All states in one table: carpenter salary by state.