salary.city
Index Last Audited: 2026

Civil Engineers Salary in Des Moines, IA

Projected Base $124,843 — but what does that actually buy you here?

2026 Base Projection (adjusted +5.1% for inflation from latest BLS release) 340 employed locally

Core Salary Percentiles

$118,830
Median Annual
$68k$170k
$68k$81k$125k (Est. 2026)$129k$170k
Des Moines is a purchasing power sweet spot for this role
A $124,843 salary stretches 12% further than the national average here. With a home-price-to-income ratio of just 2x, homeownership is realistically within reach — a rare combination in today's market.

Purchasing Power

$90,399/yr
After-Tax Income
$7,533/mo
Monthly Take-Home
89.5
Cost of Living Index
112%
Purchasing Power
Salary Equivalent
In San Francisco:$264,611/yr
In New York City:$261,124/yr

Tax Liability Blueprint

Base Compensation$124,843
Federal Tax-$19,501
FICA / Medicare-$9,550
State Tax (IA)-$5,393
Effective Tax Rate27.6%
Calculations powered by zero-latency 2024 IRS Federal & State Marginal Tax engine. Data provided for estimation purposes.

Housing Affordability

$1,050/mo
HUD 1BR Fair Market Rent
14%
Rent-to-Income Ratio
$6,483/mo
Disposable After Rent

Run The Numbers

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Civil Engineers — Other Cities

CityMedianCOLPower
Sacramento, CA $130k120.383%
San Jose, CA $129k195.351%
San Francisco, CA $127k189.753%
Des Moines, IA $119k89.5112%
Fresno, CA $111k99.2101%
Riverside, CA $109k110.590%
Providence, RI $108k105.295%
Stockton, CA $108k105.895%

Top Salaries in Des Moines

Similar Engineering Roles in Des Moines

RoleMedianTake-Home
Aerospace Engineers$112k$7k/mo
Electrical Engineers$103k$7k/mo
Chemical Engineers$94k$6k/mo
Mechanical Engineers$82k$5k/mo
VERIFIED DATA LAYER

Data Methodology & Authenticity

Eleanor Vance
Eleanor Vance(Credentials)
Lead Data Editor
01Official BLS Sources

Aggregated directly from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) OES National Dataset. This matrix continuously analyzes over 45,000+ verified tax and payroll records locally.

02Inflation Alignment

Raw historical BLS data is algorithmically projected to 2026 using a dynamic compound inflation adjustment model to reflect real-time economic buying power.

03IRS Tax Deduction Engine

Every wage band is meticulously processed through our proprietary 50-state local tax engine. We evaluate your gross base against 2024 progressive IRS Federal, FICA, and exact localized state tax brackets, guaranteeing highly precise "Net Take-Home" data streams rather than simple baseline median averages.

04HUD Fair Market Rents

Our housing affordability indices bypass estimation completely. We anchor localized rental deductions against empirical datasets published by the **U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)**, locking onto exact MSA-level 1-Bedroom Fair Market Rents (FMR).

05DoL H-1B Verification

Top-tier data logic is cross-audited against the **U.S. Department of Labor OFLC LCA Disclosures**. We ingest millions of records to extract verified base salary offers directly from established Big Tech giants (Google, Meta, Apple), stripping out low-confidence projections.

Frequently Asked Questions

A $118,830 salary in Des Moines, IA provides 112% of national-average purchasing power. After federal and state taxes, you'd take home approximately $7,533/month. With the median home price at $250,000, the home-price-to-income ratio is 2x. This salary offers above-average purchasing power in this metro area.