High paying production jobs in Iowa City, IA

Every production occupation below is ranked by its median annual wage in Iowa City, IA. Read the percentile range, not just the median: the gap between the 10th and 90th inside a single production job is usually wider than the gap between two different ones, so where you land in a field matters more than which field you pick.

Cost of living: prices in Iowa City, IA run 8.5% below the national average (2024), so a Iowa City, IA salary is worth about 1.09× its face value in national terms. That scales every wage here by the same factor — it changes what the numbers mean, not their order.

Local wage estimates are suppressed more often than state ones — BLS withholds any figure too few local employers report — so an occupation missing here simply has no published local estimate.

Wages: BLS OEWS, May 2025 · Cost of living: BEA regional price parities, 2024

Find production jobs in Iowa City, IA

OccupationMedian, Iowa City, IA · Employed

1First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers$68,960
High school diploma or equivalent
$48,060 – $97,430280
2Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators$63,450
High school diploma or equivalent
$37,810 – $76,430110
3Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers$57,780
High school diploma or equivalent
$46,480 – $75,420130
4Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders$51,570
High school diploma or equivalent
$40,410 – $61,100100
5Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders$50,430
High school diploma or equivalent
$37,780 – $72,34040
6Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers$49,270
High school diploma or equivalent
$38,540 – $61,560200
7Food Batchmakers$48,030
High school diploma or equivalent
$35,030 – $61,11070
8Printing Press Operators$47,780
High school diploma or equivalent
$33,540 – $59,720100
9Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators$44,620
High school diploma or equivalent
$32,810 – $56,250430
10Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders$38,550
High school diploma or equivalent
$32,090 – $59,170110
11Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers$37,430
No formal educational credential
$29,690 – $38,260130
12Bakers$37,140
No formal educational credential
$22,260 – $48,670150
13Butchers and Meat Cutters$35,810
No formal educational credential
$29,920 – $46,620170
14Production Workers, All Other$35,040
High school diploma or equivalent
$21,620 – $52,21090

Bars run from the 10th to the 90th percentile; the middle half is shaded darker, and the tick is the median.

#	Occupation	MedianIowa City, IA	10th–90th percentilemiddle half shaded darker	Employed
1	First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating WorkersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$68,960	$48,060 – $97,430	280
2	Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System OperatorsHigh school diploma or equivalent	$63,450	$37,810 – $76,430	110
3	Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and BrazersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$57,780	$46,480 – $75,420	130
4	Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and TendersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$51,570	$40,410 – $61,100	100
5	Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and TendersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$50,430	$37,780 – $72,340	40
6	Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and WeighersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$49,270	$38,540 – $61,560	200
7	Food BatchmakersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$48,030	$35,030 – $61,110	70
8	Printing Press OperatorsHigh school diploma or equivalent	$47,780	$33,540 – $59,720	100
9	Miscellaneous Assemblers and FabricatorsHigh school diploma or equivalent	$44,620	$32,810 – $56,250	430
10	Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and TendersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$38,550	$32,090 – $59,170	110
11	Laundry and Dry-Cleaning WorkersNo formal educational credential	$37,430	$29,690 – $38,260	130
12	BakersNo formal educational credential	$37,140	$22,260 – $48,670	150
13	Butchers and Meat CuttersNo formal educational credential	$35,810	$29,920 – $46,620	170
14	Production Workers, All OtherHigh school diploma or equivalent	$35,040	$21,620 – $52,210	90

Ranked among the occupations common enough to employ roughly one in every three thousand workers in Iowa City, IA. The rarer ones are real jobs — but a 1,190-person occupation at the top of a list answers a different question than the one most readers are asking.

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Without a degree

The same fields, narrowed to what you can enter without one. Fields missing here have too few such occupations in Iowa City, IA to rank honestly.

High paying production jobs in Iowa City, IA

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