What General and Operations Managers earn in Guthrie County, IA
The median pay for General and Operations Managers in Guthrie County, IA is $98,780 per year, which works out to $47.49 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA metropolitan area, the labor market that Guthrie County, IA belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $117,430, which is 18.9% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 8,370 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. Guthrie County, IA has roughly 10,688 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for General and Operations Managers in the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $46,950 a year ($22.57 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $208,630 or more ($100.30 an hour). That is a gap of $161,680 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $65,010 at the 25th percentile and $144,990 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 4.4 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 General and Operations Managers in Guthrie County, IA is $47.49. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $98,780, and the same salary is $8,232 a month before taxes or about $3,799 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $35.74 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: General and Operations Managers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of General and Operations Managers this way: "Plan, direct, or coordinate the operations of public or private sector organizations, overseeing multiple departments or locations. Duties and responsibilities include formulating policies, managing daily operations, and planning the use of materials and human resources, but are too diverse and general in nature to be classified in any one functional area of management or administration, such as personnel, purchasing, or administrative services. Usually manage through subordinate supervisors. Excludes First-Line Supervisors."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Direct and coordinate activities of businesses or departments concerned with the production, pricing, sales, or distribution of products"; "Review financial statements, sales or activity reports, or other performance data to measure productivity or goal achievement or to identify areas needing cost reduction or program improvement"; "Direct administrative activities directly related to making products or providing services"; "Prepare staff work schedules and assign specific duties".
Job outlook for General and Operations Managers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 3,599,000 jobs in 2025 to 3,780,300 in 2035, a change of +5%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 285,000 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 7.9% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: bachelor's degree. Work experience in a related occupation: 5 years or more. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $105,770 for this occupation; the Guthrie County, IA median of $98,780 is 6.6% below it.
How pay in Guthrie County, IA compares
Compared with the Iowa average
Guthrie County, IA pays above the state benchmark. The Iowa employment-weighted average for General and Operations Managers is $89,353; the local median of $98,780 beats it by $9,427, or 10.6%. Within Iowa, Guthrie County, IA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for General and Operations Managers is $110,123 across the contiguous United States. At $98,780, Guthrie County, IA pays $11,343 less, which is 10.3% 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 Guthrie County, IA
Among the 452 occupations with published wages in Guthrie County, IA, General and Operations Managers ranks number 59 by median pay, ahead of about 87% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Registered Nurses at $78,630 a year, which is $20,150 less than the median for General and Operations Managers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $98,780 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 $24,451 a year, which leaves $74,329, or $6,194 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $25 goes to taxes and $75 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 24.8%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $83,030. 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 $13,181, an effective 13.3% 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 $6,124 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $1,432. FICA totals $7,557, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Iowa
Iowa income tax on this salary is $3,714 a year, or 3.8% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 28% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $309 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 Guthrie County, IA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Guthrie County, IA show an average adjusted gross income of $86,546 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.3% across all filers. Filers in the $75,000 to under $100,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 7.8%, compared with the 13.3% 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 Guthrie County, IA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Guthrie County, IA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $74,329 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Guthrie County, IA is $1,145 a month, or $13,740 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,360 a month. For General and Operations Managers, a one-bedroom absorbs 18.5% of take-home pay and 13.9% 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 3.5% of gross pay for General and Operations Managers in Guthrie 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, 27% of take-home pay. That leaves $53,897 a year, or $4,491 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 54.6% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Guthrie County, IA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Guthrie 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 Guthrie County, IA, set beside the Iowa and national medians.
Property taxes in Guthrie County, IA
Homeowners in Guthrie County, IA pay a median of $2,199 a year in real estate taxes, 24% below the Iowa median of $2,897 and 29% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $180,100, the median tax bill is 1.22% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local General and Operations Managers median of $98,780, a tax bill of that size would equal 2.2% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Guthrie County, IA
Renters in Guthrie County, IA pay a median gross rent of $845 a month in the Census survey, 13% below 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 $180,100, 13% below the Iowa median of $208,000. Median household income is $77,711, 4% above the Iowa median of $75,059, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 17.7% of that income.
Commuting in Guthrie County, IA
Workers in Guthrie County, IA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 27.1 minutes each way, 37% above the Iowa average of 19.8. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.5 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 11.8% of workers in Guthrie County, IA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can General and Operations Managers afford to live in Guthrie 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 $98,780 that ceiling is $2,469 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,145 is $1,324 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 General and Operations Managers is $47.49, which is 116% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $35.74 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 7.4 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 $59,477.
How fast you can save
At $4,491 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 General and Operations Managers pay in Guthrie County, IA
What is the hourly wage for General and Operations Managers in Guthrie County, IA?
The median is $47.49 per hour, based on $98,780 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $22.57 at the 10th percentile to $100.30 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for General and Operations Managers in Guthrie County, IA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $98,780 becomes $74,329 a year. That is $6,194 a month, $2,859 every two weeks or $1,429 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for General and Operations Managers in Guthrie County, IA?
Total taxes are $24,451 a year, an effective rate of 24.8%: $13,181 federal income tax, $7,557 FICA and $3,714 Iowa income tax.
Is pay for General and Operations Managers in Guthrie County, IA above the Iowa average?
Yes. The local median of $98,780 is +10.6% versus the Iowa average of $89,353, a difference of $9,427 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median General and Operations Managers salary in Guthrie County, IA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,145 a month against take-home pay of $6,194, which is 18.5% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $2,469 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for General and Operations Managers in Guthrie County, IA?
About $4,491 a month ($53,897 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 Guthrie 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 General and Operations Managers is $47.49.
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.