Iowa is a recent convert to a flat rate, and that recent history is the most useful thing to know about it. The state has taxed income at a flat 3.8 percent since 2025, after a progressive schedule before that, so any guide, table, or memory from before 2025 that shows Iowa brackets is out of date. In 2026, the only Iowa numbers that matter for a wage earner are the flat rate and the standard deduction.
Enter your salary and filing status to see the Iowa line alongside federal tax and FICA.
Worked example: $80,000 single, no pre-tax deductions
Take a single filer with an $80,000 salary and no pre-tax deductions. State taxable income is $80,000 minus the $16,100 single standard deduction, which is $63,900. At the flat 3.8 percent rate, the state tax is $2,428.20. Paid biweekly, that is about $93.39 per paycheck, and the effective rate on gross pay is about 3.04 percent.
The deduction does a lot of work here. It shields $16,100, which is a fifth of the salary, so the effective rate on gross pay sits almost eight tenths of a point below the flat rate. A joint household at $80,000 gets a $32,200 deduction, taxable income of $47,800, and state tax of $1,816.40, about $69.86 biweekly, with an effective rate on gross pay of about 2.27 percent.
What the flat conversion changed, and what it did not
Before 2025, an Iowa reader had to find their bracket and track where the next threshold fell. After the conversion, there is no bracket to find and no threshold to cross, so a raise is priced at exactly 3.8 cents per extra dollar of taxable income, at any income level. What did not change is the federal side, which is still progressive, and Social Security and Medicare, which still have their own rules, so the total stub still changes shape as pay rises even though the Iowa line does not.
Local taxes are excluded from the Iowa figure. Source for the rate and deductions: Tax Foundation 2026 State Income Tax Rates and Brackets. This is general information about Iowa's flat schedule, not a determination for an individual return. The federal slice on the same salary is covered in the federal brackets guide linked from the paycheck hub.
FAQs
Does Iowa still have tax brackets?
No, not for 2026. Iowa has taxed income at a flat 3.8 percent since 2025. Any pre-2025 bracket table for Iowa is out of date.
Why is Iowa's deduction the same as the federal single deduction?
Both are $16,100 single in the figures used here, and $32,200 joint. That is a coincidence of the two schedules in 2026, not a rule that they must stay equal, so do not assume they will match in a future year.
Does filing jointly change Iowa's rate?
No, the rate stays 3.8 percent. Joint filers get the larger $32,200 deduction, which is what lowers their tax on the same salary to $1,816.40 in this example.