What Registered Nurses earn in Dallas County, IA
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $78,630: the median annual pay for Registered Nurses in Dallas County, IA. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $37.80 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $81,710, which is 3.9% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 8,130 people working in this occupation across the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Dallas County, IA has roughly 107,968 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Registered Nurses in the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $64,680 a year ($31.10 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $100,500 or more ($48.32 an hour). That is a gap of $35,820 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $70,070 at the 25th percentile and $86,690 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.6 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Registered Nurses in Dallas County, IA is $37.80. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $78,630, and the same salary is $6,553 a month before taxes or about $3,024 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $29.29 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Registered Nurses
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Registered Nurses this way: "Assess patient health problems and needs, develop and implement nursing care plans, and maintain medical records. Administer nursing care to ill, injured, convalescent, or disabled patients. May advise patients on health maintenance and disease prevention or provide case management. Licensing or registration required."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Maintain accurate, detailed reports and records"; "Monitor, record, and report symptoms or changes in patients' conditions"; "Record patients' medical information and vital signs"; "Modify patient treatment plans as indicated by patients' responses and conditions".
Job outlook for Registered Nurses
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 3,465,400 jobs in 2025 to 3,660,100 in 2035, a change of +5.6%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 180,800 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 5.2% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: bachelor's degree. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $97,550 for this occupation; the Dallas County, IA median of $78,630 is 19.4% below it.
How pay in Dallas County, IA compares
Compared with the Iowa average
The local median of $78,630 sits below the Iowa employment-weighted average of $80,576. The shortfall is $1,946 a year, or 2.4%, so Dallas County, IA is a lower-paying market for this job than the state as a whole. Within Iowa, the highest median we track for this job is $84,600 in Pottawattamie County, IA.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Registered Nurses is $99,368 across the contiguous United States. At $78,630, Dallas County, IA pays $20,738 less, which is 20.9% below that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Dallas County, IA
Among the 452 occupations with published wages in Dallas County, IA, Registered Nurses ranks number 116 by median pay, ahead of about 75% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $98,780 a year, which is $20,150 more than the median for Registered Nurses.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $78,630 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $17,711 a year, which leaves $60,919, or $5,077 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $23 goes to taxes and $77 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 22.5%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $62,880. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 22% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $8,748, an effective 11.1% of gross pay, well below the 22% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $4,875 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $1,140. FICA totals $6,015, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Iowa
Iowa income tax on this salary is $2,948 a year, or 3.7% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 34% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $246 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Dallas County, IA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Dallas County, IA show an average adjusted gross income of $127,469 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 15.7% across all filers. Filers in the $75,000 to under $100,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 9.0%, compared with the 11.1% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Dallas County, IA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Dallas County, IA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $60,919 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Dallas County, IA is $1,145 a month, or $13,740 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,360 a month. For Registered Nurses, a one-bedroom absorbs 22.6% of take-home pay and 17.5% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 4.4% of gross pay for Registered Nurses in Dallas County, IA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Iowa residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,416 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $395, for $1,811 in total. Gasoline in Iowa averages $3.12 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,445.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $20,432 a year, 34% of take-home pay. That leaves $40,487 a year, or $3,374 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 51.5% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Dallas County, IA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Dallas County, IA: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Dallas County, IA, set beside the Iowa and national medians.
Property taxes in Dallas County, IA
Homeowners in Dallas County, IA pay a median of $5,001 a year in real estate taxes, 73% above the Iowa median of $2,897 and 60% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $355,600, the median tax bill is 1.41% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Registered Nurses median of $78,630, a tax bill of that size would equal 6.4% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Dallas County, IA
Renters in Dallas County, IA pay a median gross rent of $1,311 a month in the Census survey, 35% above the Iowa median of $972. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,145 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $355,600, 71% above the Iowa median of $208,000. Median household income is $102,379, 36% above the Iowa median of $75,059, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 13.4% of that income.
Commuting in Dallas County, IA
Workers in Dallas County, IA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 21.2 minutes each way, 7% above the Iowa average of 19.8. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 3.5 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 20.2% of workers in Dallas County, IA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Registered Nurses afford to live in Dallas County, IA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $78,630 that ceiling is $1,966 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,145 is $821 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $22.02 an hour; the median for Registered Nurses is $37.80, which is 72% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $29.29 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 9.0 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,360 a month means $680 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $5,580 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $46,067.
How fast you can save
At $3,374 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 3 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 6 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Registered Nurses pay in Dallas County, IA
What is the hourly wage for Registered Nurses in Dallas County, IA?
The median is $37.80 per hour, based on $78,630 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $31.10 at the 10th percentile to $48.32 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Registered Nurses in Dallas County, IA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $78,630 becomes $60,919 a year. That is $5,077 a month, $2,343 every two weeks or $1,172 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Registered Nurses in Dallas County, IA?
Total taxes are $17,711 a year, an effective rate of 22.5%: $8,748 federal income tax, $6,015 FICA and $2,948 Iowa income tax.
Is pay for Registered Nurses in Dallas County, IA above the Iowa average?
No. The local median of $78,630 is -2.4% versus the Iowa average of $80,576, a difference of $1,946 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Registered Nurses salary in Dallas County, IA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,145 a month against take-home pay of $5,077, which is 22.6% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,966 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Registered Nurses in Dallas County, IA?
About $3,374 a month ($40,487 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $20,432 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Dallas County, IA at the 30% guideline?
$22.02 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $13,740 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Registered Nurses is $37.80.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Iowa rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.