Salaries in Des Moines.
522 roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 0.86x national average. Last updated April 2026.
522 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$295,000
Distinguished Engineer
Median of All Roles
$125,000
AI Healthcare Data Engineer
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 Distinguished Engineer at $295,000, while the median across all 522 roles is $125,000. 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 | Distinguished Engineer | $295,000 | $224,000 – $376,000 |
| 2 | Chief AI Officer | $275,000 | $204,000 – $354,000 |
| 3 | Chief Technology Officer | $254,000 | $189,000 – $333,000 |
| 4 | VP of AI | $254,000 | $193,000 – $333,000 |
| 5 | Chief Data & AI Officer | $249,000 | $185,000 – $324,000 |
| 6 | Chief Product Officer | $241,000 | $179,000 – $318,000 |
| 7 | Chief Revenue Officer | $241,000 | $181,000 – $318,000 |
| 8 | Chief Algorithm Officer | $241,000 | $181,000 – $314,000 |
| 9 | SVP of AI Innovation | $238,000 | $179,000 – $313,000 |
| 10 | Head of AI | $237,000 | $175,000 – $307,000 |
| 11 | Chief Data Officer | $233,000 | $174,000 – $304,000 |
| 12 | Head of AI Research | $230,000 | $170,000 – $302,000 |
| 13 | CEO | $229,000 | $167,000 – $317,000 |
| 14 | Chief Operating Officer | $228,000 | $170,000 – $304,000 |
| 15 | Head of Applied AI | $228,000 | $170,000 – $300,000 |
| 16 | Principal Engineer | $228,000 | $175,000 – $298,000 |
| 17 | VP of AI Engineering | $226,000 | $170,000 – $294,000 |
| 18 | Chief Marketing Officer | $217,000 | $163,000 – $284,000 |
| 19 | VP of Product | $217,000 | $164,000 – $279,000 |
| 20 | CFO | $215,000 | $161,000 – $285,000 |
| 21 | VP of Engineering | $215,000 | $161,000 – $281,000 |
| 22 | VP of AI Product | $215,000 | $160,000 – $278,000 |
| 23 | AI Transformation Officer | $213,000 | $159,000 – $279,000 |
| 24 | VP of Sales | $208,000 | $156,000 – $278,000 |
| 25 | Head of AI Platform | $207,000 | $154,000 – $271,000 |
| 26 | Chief Human Resources Officer | $204,000 | $154,000 – $265,000 |
| 27 | VP of Product Design | $204,000 | $152,000 – $265,000 |
| 28 | CTO, AI Startup | $204,000 | $159,000 – $266,000 |
| 29 | VP of Marketing | $198,000 | $147,000 – $261,000 |
| 30 | Director of Generative AI | $198,000 | $149,000 – $260,000 |
| 31 | Staff Engineer | $197,000 | $157,000 – $250,000 |
| 32 | Director of Engineering | $195,000 | $151,000 – $252,000 |
| 33 | Head of AI Partnerships | $194,000 | $144,000 – $256,000 |
| 34 | AI Program Director | $192,000 | $145,000 – $251,000 |
| 35 | Director of AI Strategy | $187,000 | $142,000 – $245,000 |
| 36 | Foundation Model Engineer | $185,000 | $138,000 – $241,000 |
| 37 | Transformer Architecture Engineer | $184,000 | $137,000 – $241,000 |
| 38 | Director of Data Science | $183,000 | $140,000 – $238,000 |
| 39 | AI Systems Architect | $183,000 | $139,000 – $240,000 |
| 40 | Multi-Agent Systems Architect | $181,000 | $133,000 – $239,000 |
| 41 | Deep Learning Engineer | $179,000 | $139,000 – $228,000 |
| 42 | AI Reasoning Specialist | $179,000 | $132,000 – $237,000 |
| 43 | AI Alignment Researcher | $178,000 | $132,000 – $236,000 |
| 44 | Multimodal AI Engineer | $177,000 | $133,000 – $230,000 |
| 45 | Reinforcement Learning Engineer | $177,000 | $133,000 – $230,000 |
| 46 | AI Hardware/Chip Design Engineer | $177,000 | $132,000 – $234,000 |
| 47 | AI Agent Architect | $176,000 | $133,000 – $228,000 |
| 48 | AI Financial Engineer | $175,000 | $129,000 – $225,000 |
| 49 | AI Solutions Architect | $173,000 | $128,000 – $226,000 |
| 50 | Multimodal AI Researcher | $172,000 | $128,000 – $228,000 |
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.
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