Marketing Specialist salary in Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA

Pay in Waterloo-Cedar Falls against Iowa and the US

The middle half of marketing specialists in Waterloo-Cedar Falls earns $50,130–$80,790. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $104,560, only 2.7 times the bottom tenth, against 3.6 times across the US, so the going rate is easier to read. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $30,660 wide, against $35,670 across Iowa and $49,960 nationally: employers in Waterloo-Cedar Falls pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a marketing specialist here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $16,790 a year in pay and about $21,665 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $13,870 in pay. 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 Waterloo-Cedar Falls, and the Iowa statewide median of $66,390 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Waterloo-Cedar Falls

Pay is only part of it. Benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², which adds about $18,581 to the $64,000 median and brings it to $82,581 a year. 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 Waterloo-Cedar Falls

Of the 17 roles we track in Waterloo-Cedar Falls, this one ranks #3 by median pay, between accountants ($73,530) and recruiters ($61,900). Project Coordinator is the highest at $81,600.

Measured against the US median, marketing specialists rank #14 of the 17 roles we track in Waterloo-Cedar Falls (-18.7%), between recruiters (-18.5%) and project coordinators (-20.3%). The typical role here is at -12.1%, so, measured against the US, marketing specialists cost less in Waterloo-Cedar Falls than the area's general pay level would suggest. Marketing specialists hold 5.8% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Waterloo-Cedar Falls, 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 7 areas in Iowa with more marketing specialists than Waterloo-Cedar Falls, 4 pay less, the largest of them Cedar Rapids, IA ($63,630), the Northwest Iowa nonmetro area ($56,920) and Iowa City, IA ($63,790).

Waterloo-Cedar Falls against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Waterloo-Cedar Falls is #231 of 514 US areas for this job. Both its size and its pay sit in the middle half of US areas. Outside Iowa, South Bend-Mishawaka and Pinehurst-Southern Pines pay just above Waterloo-Cedar Falls and Sheboygan and Wichita just below. All four are within $110 a year of the median in Waterloo-Cedar Falls. Of the three markets with about as many marketing specialists, two pay more.

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