Salaries in Des Moines.
3,500+ roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 0.86x national average. Last updated April 2026.
3445 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$313,000
Technical Fellow
Median of All Roles
$135,000
AI Supply Chain Manager
Entry Level
$28,000
Hotel Clerk / Front Desk
Salary data sourced from SEC filings, H-1B Labor Condition Applications (DOL), Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, and aggregated job postings across 50+ platforms. Ranges reflect 25th to 75th percentile for full-time positions. Cost-of-living adjustments use Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities (2025 index). Last updated April 2026.
Des Moines, IA has a cost-of-living index of 0.86x the national average. The highest-paying role is Technical Fellow at $313,000, while the median across all 3445 roles is $135,000. Des Moines is a major insurance and financial services hub, home to Principal Financial, EMC Insurance, and a growing fintech community.
About the Des Moines market
Des Moines is a major insurance and financial services hub, home to Principal Financial, EMC Insurance, and a growing fintech community. The city's extremely low cost of living and strong job market make it one of the best value cities for finance professionals.
InsuranceFinancial ServicesAgricultureGovernmentTechnology
Top 50 salaries in Des Moines
| # | Role | Median | Range |
|---|
| 1 | Technical Fellow | $313,000 | $244,000 – $407,000 |
| 2 | Principal AI Research Scientist | $304,000 | $237,000 – $395,000 |
| 3 | Principal Quantitative Researcher | $298,000 | $232,000 – $387,000 |
| 4 | Distinguished Engineer | $295,000 | $224,000 – $376,000 |
| 5 | Senior VP of Product | $295,000 | $230,000 – $384,000 |
| 6 | Principal AI Safety Engineer | $284,000 | $222,000 – $369,000 |
| 7 | Principal Deep Learning Engineer | $282,000 | $220,000 – $367,000 |
| 8 | Senior VP of Security | $281,000 | $219,000 – $365,000 |
| 9 | Principal AI Agent Architect | $279,000 | $218,000 – $362,000 |
| 10 | Chief AI Officer | $275,000 | $204,000 – $354,000 |
| 11 | SVP of Product | $275,000 | $214,000 – $357,000 |
| 12 | Principal Applied Scientist | $274,000 | $214,000 – $356,000 |
| 13 | Principal Quantitative Developer | $274,000 | $214,000 – $356,000 |
| 14 | Principal Cryptographer | $274,000 | $214,000 – $356,000 |
| 15 | Staff AI Research Scientist | $272,000 | $212,000 – $354,000 |
| 16 | Senior VP of Design | $272,000 | $213,000 – $353,000 |
| 17 | Chief Security Officer | $272,000 | $212,000 – $354,000 |
| 18 | Chief Strategy Officer | $272,000 | $212,000 – $354,000 |
| 19 | Principal Kernel Engineer | $267,000 | $208,000 – $346,000 |
| 20 | Staff Quantitative Researcher | $267,000 | $208,000 – $347,000 |
| 21 | Principal AI Compiler Engineer | $265,000 | $207,000 – $346,000 |
| 22 | SVP of Technology | $265,000 | $207,000 – $346,000 |
| 23 | SVP of Engineering | $264,000 | $206,000 – $343,000 |
| 24 | Senior Head of Security | $264,000 | $206,000 – $343,000 |
| 25 | CTO | $263,000 | $205,000 – $342,000 |
| 26 | SVP of Sales | $263,000 | $205,000 – $342,000 |
| 27 | Principal LLM Engineer | $261,000 | $204,000 – $339,000 |
| 28 | Principal AI Agent Engineer | $261,000 | $203,000 – $339,000 |
| 29 | Chief Machine Learning Officer | $261,000 | $203,000 – $339,000 |
| 30 | Lead High-Frequency Trading Engineer | $261,000 | $204,000 – $339,000 |
| 31 | Chief Architect | $261,000 | $203,000 – $339,000 |
| 32 | Senior Head of Product | $260,000 | $204,000 – $339,000 |
| 33 | Chief Science Officer | $259,000 | $202,000 – $336,000 |
| 34 | Principal Quantitative Analyst | $258,000 | $201,000 – $335,000 |
| 35 | Principal AI Engineer | $256,000 | $200,000 – $333,000 |
| 36 | Principal AI Infrastructure Engineer | $256,000 | $199,000 – $332,000 |
| 37 | Principal Distributed Systems Engineer | $256,000 | $199,000 – $332,000 |
| 38 | L7 Software Engineer | $256,000 | $200,000 – $333,000 |
| 39 | Chief Digital Officer | $255,000 | $199,000 – $332,000 |
| 40 | SVP of Strategy | $255,000 | $199,000 – $332,000 |
| 41 | Chief Technology Officer | $254,000 | $189,000 – $333,000 |
| 42 | VP of AI | $254,000 | $193,000 – $333,000 |
| 43 | Principal NLP Engineer | $254,000 | $197,000 – $329,000 |
| 44 | Principal Computer Vision Engineer | $254,000 | $198,000 – $329,000 |
| 45 | Chief Transformation Officer | $254,000 | $198,000 – $331,000 |
| 46 | SVP of Marketing | $254,000 | $198,000 – $331,000 |
| 47 | Senior High-Frequency Trading Engineer | $252,000 | $197,000 – $327,000 |
| 48 | SVP of Business Development | $252,000 | $197,000 – $329,000 |
| 49 | Chief Design Officer | $251,000 | $196,000 – $327,000 |
| 50 | Chief Legal Officer | $250,000 | $195,000 – $325,000 |
Tax considerations
Iowa has a flat 3.8% state income tax. Des Moines has no city income tax. The low rate and affordable housing create strong purchasing power.
Negotiating in Des Moines
Benchmark against national insurance industry pay scales. Des Moines insurance employers compete with remote offers from larger metros.
Know the number. Get the offer.
Orbyt gives you the salary data, interview prep, and pipeline tools to negotiate from a position of strength.
Start free.