Recruiter salary in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area

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

The middle half of recruiters in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area earns $54,390–$81,700. The top tenth earns $115,900 or more, 2.5 times the bottom tenth, close to the US pattern of 2.7 times. The mean ($73,230) is 12% 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 $27,310 wide, against $31,880 across Iowa and $40,770 nationally: employers in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a recruiter here

The step from the 25th percentile to the median is $11,100 a year; from the median to the 75th it is $16,210, or about $20,916 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 $75,940 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area, and the Iowa statewide median of $66,710 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area

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 $19,013 to the $65,490 median and brings it to $84,503 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 recruiters 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 #3 by median pay, between accountants ($75,390) and marketing specialists ($64,220). Project Coordinator is the highest at $84,430.

Measured against the US median, recruiters rank #12 of the 17 roles we track in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area (-13.8%), between sales development representatives (-10.8%) and medical administrative assistants (-16.6%). The typical role here is at -10.2%, so, measured against the US, recruiters cost less in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area than the area's general pay level would suggest. Recruiters hold 6.9% of the jobs in these 17 roles in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area, 5.8% across Iowa and 5.8% nationally. The job is a bigger 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 $61,900 in Waterloo-Cedar Falls to $79,670 in Davenport-Moline, a gap of $17,770 a year. All 2 areas in Iowa with more recruiters than the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area also pay more, among them Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA ($71,600) and Davenport-Moline, IA-IL ($79,670).

the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area is #134 of 521 US areas for this job. Both its size and its pay sit in the middle half of US areas. Outside Iowa, Rockford and Fort Wayne pay just above the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area and Billings and Orlando-Kissimmee just below. All four are within $60 a year of the median in the Southeast Iowa nonmetro area. Of the three markets with about as many recruiters, all three pay more.

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Sources

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