- The middle half earn between $17.91 and $23.39 an hour.
- Iowa ranks 22nd of the 50 states with published figures for median pay in this trade.
- Iowa pays more than 3 of its 6 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 540 pest control technicians on payrolls in Iowa.
- At the state median wage, a pest control company needs to bill about $108.84 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Pest Control Technician pay in Iowa, bottom to top
The BLS group is pest control workers: the technicians who inspect, treat and set traps in homes and businesses.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $17.19 | $35,750 | $16.67 |
| 25th percentile | $17.91 | $37,240 | $18.00 |
| Median | $21.78 | $45,290 | $21.75 |
| 75th percentile | $23.39 | $48,640 | $23.85 |
| 90th percentile | $27.52 | $57,250 | $29.75 |
| Average (mean) | $21.26 | $44,210 | $22.31 |
Pay is bunched up in Iowa. The top tenth earn $27.52 an hour or more, about 1.6 times the $17.19 at the bottom tenth. Nationally that gap is 1.8 times, so the step from the bottom of the scale to the top is shorter here than in most places.
The floor is higher than nationally ($17.19 against $16.67) but the ceiling is lower ($27.52 against $29.75), which squeezes pay toward the middle.
The average wage ($21.26) is a little under the median, so the low end of the range stretches further than the high end in Iowa.
How Iowa compares with other states
Over a full year the gap to the national median is small: $45,290 in Iowa against $45,250 nationally, $40 more.
In the state ranking, Iowa sits 22nd, between Wisconsin ($21.81) and Rhode Island ($21.65). Delaware has exactly the same median, $21.78, so the two share that place. The range runs from $17.82 in New Mexico to $24.66 in Washington.
Against its neighboring states, Iowa is in the middle: Illinois, South Dakota and Wisconsin pay more, and Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska pay less.
How many pest control technicians work in Iowa
About 540 pest control technicians work on payrolls in Iowa, 0.5% of the 102,620 nationwide, the 36th largest count among the states.
It is a smaller part of local jobs than in most of the country, at 0.3 per 1,000 jobs, 0.52 times the national share.
What a pest control company in Iowa should charge
Say you run a pest control company in Iowa and pay the state median of $21.78 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 | $21.78 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $48,768 |
| Break-even rate | ($48,768 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $92.51 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $92.51 ÷ 0.85 | $108.84 |
That is $108.84 per billable hour, 5 times the wage, and almost the same as the $108.78 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $23.39 in Iowa, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $111.67.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $17.91, the rate only drops to $102.04.
At this wage, overhead is most of the price: $60 of every billed hour goes to it before anyone is paid. Spreading the same overhead over more billable hours, with a second person or less drive time, brings the rate down fastest.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Working as a pest control technician in Iowa
- Licensing. What Iowa asks for before you can work on your own: Pest control license in Iowa.
- Running the business. Quotes, invoices, booking and your website in one place: how pest control companies 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 37-2021, pest control workers, 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: pest control technician salary by state.