Uprootmap
Waterloo, IA
$2,869after tax and rent
Photo: Stephen Cummings / Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0
On a $83,730 household paycheck in Waterloo.
Modelled metro
So you know: homicide deaths in Waterloo are under the US rate in this release, 5.4 versus 6.5 per 100,000. CDC via County Health Rankings, CDC NVSS 2017–2023 (CHR 2025 release).
Move Score
83
Each row is 0–100. The Move Score is their weighted average, rounded, and it stops at 99. Rent is only in Housing. Jobs is off when the paycheck is the same in every city. Schools is off when there are no kids.
The 6 rows that are on. Their weighted average is 83.3, and that is the score, rounded, up to 99. Rows that are off stay out. The percent on each row is its weight. Tap a row to see what it measures. How the score is weighted
Example household
Example: $83,730, same pay in every city · One adult, renting a 1-bedroom
These figures are projections built from available public data. Conditions change, and the numbers may not reflect current prices, taxes, or immigration rules. Check official sources before you make decisions.
After tax and rent
$2,869
Home city
Not picked
Salary
$83,730
Same everywhere
Top things to do in Waterloo
More in Waterloo
Photo: Vossman / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 UNI-Dome
Stadium in Iowa, USA
Stats
- Rent
- $938
- 2 bd median
- Take-home
- $5,426
- Per month
- Tax
- 22%
- Of pay
- Prices
- 13% below
- US, besides rent
Next
$2,869 / mo
The month
One earner. 1 bd.
See full breakdown
- Taxes$1,552
- Rent$788
- Other$1,769
- Left$2,869
Pay and tax, per year
- Gross household pay
- $83,730
- Federal income tax
- −$9,591
- Social Security and Medicare
- −$6,405
- State income tax (IA)
- −$2,627
- Take-home pay
- $65,107
- Effective tax rate
- 22.2%
Living costs, per month
- Rent, 1br
- $788
- Groceries
- $347
- Getting around
- $510
- Healthcare
- $391
- Utilities and internet
- $217
- Everything else
- $304
- Total spending
- $2,557
After tax and rent
$2,869 left/mo
County by county
3 counties. Rent in this table is the Census median of what residents pay. The city figure is Zillow asking rent.
| County | People | Median rent | 2-bed rent | Home value | Income | Commute |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Hawk CountyIA | 131k78% | $962 | $970 | $182,400 | $64,581 | 16 min |
| Bremer CountyIA | 25k15% | $844 | $850 | $207,200 | $83,343 | 20 min |
| Grundy CountyIA | 12k7% | $777 | $771 | $180,500 | $83,617 | 22 min |
Census ACS 2023. “—” is not published.
Working remotely
If the paycheck stays the same
One adult, one bedroom, $120,000 held flat in every city. That leaves $4,880 a month here after tax and rent. One-bedroom rent in that math is $788.
- Work from home
- 6.8% of workers
- ACS 2024 1-year
- Home internet
- 71.8% of households
- Cable, fiber optic, or DSL
- Paid to move, remote job
- No open remote grant on this metro
Worked-from-home share is from ACS 2024 1-year. Internet is households with cable, fiber optic, or DSL, from ACS 2023 5-year.
The place
17 min commute. A car per adult.
- Weather
- Not shown for this metro.
- Getting around
- A car per adult
- Average commute
- 17 minutes each way
- Size
- 168k people
- Buying instead
- Median home $186,100. About $1,413/mo with 20% down.
- Taxes
- Iowa income tax is a flat 3.80%. Sales tax 6.9%, property tax 1.47%.
Schools
- Students
- 27,203
- Pupils per teacher
- 13
- Districts
- 15
- Waterloo Comm School District10,635 students
- Cedar Falls Comm School District5,875 students
- Waverly-Shell Rock Comm School District2,323 students
- Denver Comm School District1,007 students
- Dike-New Hartford Comm School District957 students
NCES 2024-2025. The district count is every public district in the metro. The names are the largest 5.
Compare Waterloo
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Moving from Waterloo
Take-home by job in Waterloo
- Registered nurse
- Software developer
- Elementary school teacher
- High school teacher
- Accountant / auditor
- Truck driver (heavy)
- Electrician
- Civil engineer
- Lawyer
- Police officer
- Financial analyst
- Pharmacist
- Product / project manager
- Physical therapist
- Nurse practitioner
- Physician
- Construction manager
- Data scientist
- Firefighter
- Mechanical engineer
Other Iowa metros
- Des Moines, IA
PaycheckHousingCostsDaily lifeKidsMove costCost of livingTake-home
- Davenport, IA
PaycheckHousingCostsDaily lifeKidsMove costCost of livingTake-home
- Cedar Rapids, IA
PaycheckHousingCostsDaily lifeKidsMove costCost of livingTake-home
- Iowa City, IA
PaycheckHousingCostsDaily lifeKidsMove costCost of livingTake-home
- Sioux City, IA
PaycheckHousingCostsDaily lifeKidsMove costCost of livingTake-home
- Ames, IA
PaycheckHousingCostsDaily lifeKidsMove costCost of livingTake-home
- Dubuque, IA
PaycheckHousingCostsDaily lifeKidsMove costCost of livingTake-home
Questions
How is take-home pay in Waterloo calculated?
Waterloo is in Iowa, which taxes wage income. Take-home is a local salary minus federal tax, payroll tax, and that state tax. Leftover is what remains after rent and bills.
What does rent cost in Waterloo?
About $788 for a one-bedroom and $938 for a two-bedroom in Waterloo, IA. Waterloo averages 204 sunny days, a July high of 82°F, and a 17-minute commute.
How do I compare Waterloo with another city?
Put Waterloo next to another city on the same job and household. The gap is the tax bill and the rent.
Also look at
Estimate, not a quote. How we figure this.