Marketing Specialist salary in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area

Pay in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area against Iowa and the US

The middle half of marketing specialists in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area earns $47,950–$83,250. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $104,310, only 2.8 times the bottom tenth, against 3.6 times across the US, so the going rate is easier to read. The mean ($69,400) is 8% over the median, so a group of high earners pulls the average up; price a typical hire from the median. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $35,300 wide, against $35,670 across Iowa and $49,960 nationally: employers in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a marketing specialist here

The step from the 25th percentile to the median is $16,270 a year; from the median to the 75th it is $19,030, or about $24,555 once benefits are added. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $78,760 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area, and the Iowa statewide median of $66,390 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area

At the $64,220 median, a local hire costs about $82,865 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $18,645 here. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for marketing specialists we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area

Of the 17 roles we track in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area, this one ranks #4 by median pay, between recruiters ($65,490) and sales development representatives ($62,460). Project Coordinator is the highest at $84,430.

Measured against the US median, marketing specialists rank #15 of the 17 roles we track in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area (-18.5%), between project coordinators (-17.5%) and paralegals (-22.3%). The typical role here is at -10.2%, so, measured against the US, marketing specialists cost less in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area than the area's general pay level would suggest. Marketing specialists hold 6.3% of the jobs in these 17 roles in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area, 6.5% across Iowa and 5.7% nationally. That is close to the national mix.

Other areas in Iowa

Across the 12 areas of Iowa with data for this job, the median runs from $56,230 in Sioux City to $76,580 in Des Moines-West Des Moines, a gap of $20,350 a year. Of the 3 areas in Iowa with more marketing specialists than the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area, 1 pays less: Cedar Rapids, IA ($63,630).

the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area is #116 of 514 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job, with pay near the middle of the US range. Outside Iowa, Roanoke and Elizabethtown pay just above the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area and Salem and Lafayette-West Lafayette just below. All four are within $240 a year of the median in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area. Of the three markets with about as many marketing specialists, one pays more.

Questions

Sources

How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.