Do carpenters make more in Waterloo or Des Moines?

Des Moines pays more: the median is $55,840 in Waterloo and $61,360 in Des Moines, a 9% difference.

Carpenter salary in Waterloo, IA

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Carpenters in the Waterloo–Cedar Falls, IA area earn a median of $55,840 a year, or $26.85 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $78,980. That's 3% less than the Iowa median of $57,710.

Median yearly pay$55,840

Bottom 10% under$38,870Top 10% over$78,980

Apprentice starting pay (estimate): $18.69/hr
Jobs in this area: 260
After cost of living: $64,140
Median hourly pay: $26.85/hr
vs U.S. median: −8%
vs Iowa median: −3%
Mean (average) pay: $56,780 a year · $27.30 an hour

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 47940, Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA). Excludes self-employed carpenters. Cost of living: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024. *Starting pay is estimated from the 10th percentile; BLS does not report pay by license level.

Pay by percentile

What carpenters in Waterloo, IA earn at each point of the pay range, May 2025: 10% earn less than the 10th percentile, half earn less than the median, and 10% earn more than the 90th.

Percentile	Hourly	Yearly
10th percentile	$18.69	$38,870
25th percentile	$23.07	$47,980
Median (50th)	$26.85	$55,840
75th percentile	$29.81	$62,000
90th percentile	$37.97	$78,980

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.

How Waterloo, IA compares

Waterloo ranks 5th of 9 Iowa metro areas for carpenter pay.
Carpenters are less concentrated in the Waterloo area than nationally: 3.1 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.72 times the U.S. share.

Other Iowa metro areas

Other trades in Waterloo, IA

Electrician HVAC technician Welder Lineman Plumber Diesel mechanic Heavy equipment operator Auto mechanic

Questions

Do carpenters make more in Waterloo or Des Moines?: Des Moines pays more: the median is $55,840 in Waterloo and $61,360 in Des Moines, a 9% difference.

About this data

Wages are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, occupation 47-2031 (Carpenters), area code 47940 (Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA). BLS counts wage and salary workers only, so self-employed carpenters and business owners aren't included. The cost-of-living figure divides the median by the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parity for 2024 (87.1, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures