Office Manager salary in Iowa City, IA

Pay in Iowa City against Iowa and the US

The middle half of office managers in Iowa City earns $55,840–$84,310. The top tenth earns $104,380 or more, 2.4 times the bottom tenth, close to the US pattern of 2.3 times. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $28,470 wide, against $29,000 across Iowa and $29,140 nationally: employers in Iowa City pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for an office manager here

Pay climbs faster above the median than below it here: the 75th percentile is $17,880 over the median, the 25th only $10,590 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $23,071 a year in employer cost. 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 $69,500 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in Iowa City, and the Iowa statewide median of $64,400 falls between the 25th percentile and the median.

What a hire really costs in Iowa City

At the $66,430 median, a local hire costs about $85,716 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $19,286 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 office managers 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 Iowa City

Of the 16 roles we track in Iowa City, this one ranks #4 by median pay, between recruiters ($71,120) and paralegals ($66,400). Project Coordinator is the highest at $96,820.

Measured against the US median, office managers rank #8 of the 16 roles we track in Iowa City (-4.4%), between payroll specialists (-3.1%) and administrative assistants (-4.5%). The typical role here is at -4.5%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Office managers hold 7.5% of the jobs in these 16 roles in Iowa City, 7.5% across Iowa and 9.1% nationally. The job is a smaller part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Iowa

Across the 12 areas of Iowa with data for this job, the median runs from $57,940 in the Northeast Iowa nonmetro area to $71,690 in Des Moines-West Des Moines, a gap of $13,750 a year. Of the 6 areas in Iowa with more office managers than Iowa City, 5 pay less, the largest of them Davenport-Moline, IA-IL ($63,020), the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area ($62,440) and Cedar Rapids, IA ($63,730).

Iowa City against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Iowa City is #356 of 517 US areas for this job. Both its size and its pay sit in the middle half of US areas. Outside Iowa, Lawrence and Reading pay just above Iowa City and La Crosse-Onalaska and El Centro just below. All four are within $140 a year of the median in Iowa City. Of the three markets with about as many office managers, one pays more.

Questions

Sources

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