Iowa mortgage calculator

Property tax in Iowa

The median Iowa homeowner pays $2,897 a year in property tax on a home valued at $208,000, an effective rate of 1.3928% in the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS 5-year 2020-2024). That ranks the 10th highest of the 50 states and DC, above the middle state's 0.8003%. At that rate each $100,000 of home value carries about $1,393 a year of tax, or $116.07 a month in the payment, and that rate is what the calculator above starts from.

Inside Iowa the rate more than doubles from the cheapest county to the dearest. Among counties whose survey figures pass both quality checks, the effective rate runs from 0.8674% in Lyon County to 1.8008% in Union County. On a $208,000 home that gap is worth about $1,941 a year. Pick a county in the calculator to use its rate, or type the rate from a listing or a current tax bill.

A high effective rate in Iowa reflects what owners actually pay after exemptions and caps, so the rate in the calculator is the one that matters for a budget, not any rate printed in Iowa law. Ask for the seller's latest bill and the assessed value too, since a new owner's assessment can differ from the long-held homes behind the median.

Iowa property tax rates by county

All 99 counties, sorted from the highest effective rate to the lowest. The rate is the median tax paid divided by the median home value, from the ACS 5-year 2020-2024 survey (figures to December 31, 2024). Of these, one carries a flag: where the survey's margin of error is wide or home values hit the survey's top code, the calculator uses the Iowa median instead of that county's figure.

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Worked example: the median Iowa home

The median owner-occupied home in Iowa is valued at $208,000 (ACS 5-year 2020-2024). Put $41,600 down, enough to keep the loan at 80% of the price so no PMI is charged, and borrow the rest over 30 years at 7.4%, the Freddie Mac average for the week of October 15, 2026. Insurance is the calculator's default of $1,500 a year, the same figure on every state page and 8.2% of this payment; real premiums vary widely from state to state and with a home's exposure to wind, flood and wildfire, so replace it with a premium for the Iowa home you are pricing.

Principal and interest dominate the bill; tax and insurance, usually collected through escrow, add $366.42 a month, 24.1% of the total. Over the full term the $166,400 loan costs $248,363 in interest.

With $20,800 down instead, the loan grows to $187,200 and PMI of $78.00 a month is added, for a first payment of $1,740.55. On the regular schedule the PMI stops after 10 years, with the payment in October 2036. A 15-year loan at the 6.71% average, with the larger down payment, raises the monthly figure to $1,835.22 but cuts the interest to $97,984.

What the median Iowa wage can buy

The median annual wage in Iowa is $48,540 (BLS wage survey, May 2025). Paid every two weeks as a single filer, that leaves about $3,319 a month after federal and Iowa paycheck deductions. With $60,000 saved for a down payment and $400 a month of other debts, the home affordability calculator's default 28/36 rule gives this range at 7.4% and the Iowa property tax rate:

Here the limit is total debt: the housing payment plus the other $400 a month reaches 36% of gross pay first. The target falls $41,430 short of the $208,000 median home value: the median home costs 4.3 times the median wage, so a typical Iowa purchase usually needs a second income, a larger down payment or a cheaper area.

Everyday costs help: Iowa's prices for goods and rent run 12.2% below the national average, by the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parities for 2024 (figures to December 31, 2024). That stretches the median wage to about $55,309 in national dollars.