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Des Moines Paycheck Calculator (2026)

Enter your annual salary below to see your Des Moines take-home pay after federal, state, FICA, and city/local taxes for 2026.

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Iowa school district income surtax coverage in this engine is limited to the Des Moines Public Schools (DMPS) rate. Other Iowa school districts publish their own surtax rates against the Iowa DOR's annual School District Surtax Rates notice; those are not modeled here.

Quick answer

Effectively yes. Des Moines residents in the Des Moines Public Schools (DMPS) district owe an Iowa school district surtax of 7.5% of state income tax owed, layered on top of Iowa's flat state line. At $85,000 single, take-home is $65,813 after federal tax, FICA, Iowa state tax, and the DMPS surtax.

Des Moines is Iowa's capital and largest city, sitting at the confluence of the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers in Polk County. Iowa school districts add a surtax computed as a percentage of state income tax owed, and the Des Moines Public Schools rate of 7.5% is one of the larger urban-district surtaxes in the state. Principal Financial Group has headquartered downtown since 1879 and gives the city its identity as the country's mid-tier insurance capital, often nicknamed the Hartford of the West. Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, EMC Insurance, and Nationwide all maintain Des Moines offices in the same insurance corridor. Drake University runs a small private campus on University Avenue. The Iowa State Fair, the largest annual event in the state, draws roughly a million visitors to the fairgrounds each August. Iowa runs no payroll-funded state disability or paid family leave program. The federal load on $85,000 single comes to $9,870, with Iowa state tax at $2,618, FICA combined at $6,503, and the DMPS surtax line at $196, for take-home of $65,813. Run the calculator above with a different salary to model how the DMPS surtax scales at your real gross.

$85,000 single filer take-home comparison

Des Moines

$65,800

Iowa (no city tax)

$66,000

Texas (no income tax)

$68,600

Des Moines take-home is -$200 vs the state-only figure and -$2,800 vs the no-income-tax baseline.

Des Moines local tax breakdown

Des Moines's local tax is computed as 7.50% of IA state tax owed.

What this estimate includes

This calculator computes Des Moines take-home pay using 2026 federal brackets after the standard deduction, FICA contributions (Social Security up to the annual wage base, Medicare on all wages, plus the Additional Medicare Tax above the filing-status threshold), Iowa's state income tax schedule, the Des Moines resident surcharge. It excludes employer-side payroll taxes, custom W-4 elections, supplemental-wage handling for bonuses or equity vesting, and income from sources other than W-2 wages. Per-city resident and non-resident rules are described in the prose above where they differ.

Des Moines paycheck FAQ

What is the federal tax bill on $85,000 single in Des Moines?
The federal load on $85,000 single comes to $9,870, with the marginal slice in the 22% bracket after the standard deduction. Federal tax mechanics apply uniformly nationwide, so a Des Moines single filer sees the same federal line as a Cedar Rapids or Sioux City counterpart on the same gross.
How is the DMPS school district surtax structured?
Iowa's school district income surtax is computed as a percentage of the resident's Iowa state income tax owed, rather than as a separate rate on wages. The DMPS rate sits at 7.5% of state tax, set annually by the district board. The surtax flows through the resident's Iowa return rather than appearing as a distinct withholding on every paycheck.
Does the DMPS surtax apply if I live outside Des Moines?
The surtax follows Iowa school district boundaries, not city limits. Residents of the DMPS attendance area, including portions of Des Moines and adjacent suburbs, owe the 7.5% surtax on their Iowa state tax. Residents of neighboring districts (West Des Moines, Urbandale, Ankeny) pay their own district's posted surtax, which may differ.
How much does a 401(k) contribution save at $85,000 in Des Moines?
Pre-tax retirement deferrals trim the federal and state lines at the 25.8% combined marginal. Because the DMPS surtax is computed as 7.5% of Iowa state tax, every dollar of state-tax reduction cascades to a smaller surtax line, so all three liabilities shrink together with each pre-tax dollar deferred.
What changes for married filing jointly, head of household, or filing separately at $85,000 in Des Moines?
Joint filers at $85,000 clear $70,501, about $4,688 more the single number. Wider federal MFJ brackets and the doubled federal standard deduction drive most of the change. Iowa's flat state rate is filing-status-neutral, and the DMPS surtax scales proportionally with state liability across all four filing statuses. Head of Household clears about $68,735, around $2,922 more than Single, and combined two-return MFS take-home lands about $4,688 less than MFJ.
How does Des Moines compare to other Iowa cities for paycheck taxes?
Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Davenport, and Sioux City residents face their own school district surtax rates rather than a city wage tax, and rates differ across districts. The DMPS 7.5% sits among the larger urban surtaxes; some rural districts impose no surtax at all. The state line and FICA are identical for Iowa residents statewide.

See also

Run the full Iowa paycheck calculatorBrowse all city paycheck calculatorsBrowse paycheck calculators by statePaycheck and tax glossaryHow we calculate paycheck taxes

Reviewed

How This Page Is Reviewed

The Des Moines paycheck page is reviewed against primary federal, state, and city sources before each major tax-year update. Source links below are the references used to validate brackets, wage bases, and supported local taxes.

Reviewed by

PaycheckCalc Research Desk

Last reviewed

2026-06-25