Data Scientists salary in Iowa

The median Data Scientist in Iowa earned $97,980 in 2024, about 15% below the US median of $115,636. That gap is real, but it narrows once you account for what the money actually buys. Iowa's cost-of-living index sits at 89.9, meaning a dollar goes further here than in most states. Adjusted for that, the in-state median translates to roughly $108,900 in national-baseline terms, closing most of the headline difference.

The spread between low and high earners is wide. The 10th percentile landed at $55,290 and the 90th at $140,620. Top earners here make about 2.5 times what those starting out make. That kind of range usually reflects real differences in seniority, the complexity of the problems someone works on, and the industry doing the hiring. A data scientist building models for a financial services firm earns differently from one doing reporting work at a regional company.

The mean wage of $97,300 came in just below the median, which is unusual. In most professional occupations a smaller group of high earners pulls the average above the median. Here they landed nearly equal, suggesting the distribution is fairly even across experience levels rather than skewed by a handful of very high-paid roles.

BLS projects employment for this occupation to grow 33.5% between 2024 and 2034, a "much faster than average" outlook by their classification. Iowa counted about 2,330 Data Scientists in 2024, a small base relative to larger tech-heavy states, so the percentage growth reflects meaningful absolute additions without requiring the kind of established tech cluster you see on the coasts.