Waiters and Waitresses salary in Ames, IA
SOC 35-3031 · BLS OEWS May 2025
How local pay compares
State-level comparison: Iowa ($21,000). Metro estimates cover the whole labor market, including portions that cross state lines.
After local prices: the $22,710 median has purchasing power comparable to about $25,566 nationally. Ames, IA's BEA regional price parity is 88.8 (2024).
What the local range looks like
The wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the darker section is the middle half, and the tick is the median for Ames, IA.
Getting in
- Typical education to enter
- No formal educational credential
- Related work experience
- None
- On-the-job training
- Short-term on-the-job training
Compare other metro areas
Every linked area below has a published estimate for waiters and waitresses. Missing areas were withheld by BLS rather than measured at zero.
The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.
| # | Metro area | Median | Cost of living | Employed | Concentrationvs. national |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Omaha, NE-IA | $34,290 | 91.9 | 7,620 | 1.05× |
| 2 | Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL | $31,200 | 89.1 | 2,680 | 1.02× |
| 3 | Sioux City, IA-NE-SD | $26,430 | 86.5 | 1,030 | 0.94× |
| 4 | Iowa City, IA | $22,030 | 91.5 | 1,890 | 1.38× |
| 5 | Cedar Rapids, IA | $21,670 | 89.0 | 1,920 | 0.94× |
| 6 | Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA | $21,490 | 87.1 | 1,280 | 1.04× |
| 7 | Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA | $20,410 | 91.7 | 6,250 | 1.06× |
| 8 | Dubuque, IA | $20,060 | 87.3 | 810 | 0.95× |
Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where waiters and waitresses wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.
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