Bartenders in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,880
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$4,210
14.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,204
Missouri costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Missouri — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$30,090
Kept after tax
$25,880
Worth in national money
$28,204
State rank
27
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Missouri pays bartenders around $30,090 at the midpoint, 27 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 488 occupations Missouri publishes, bartenders lands at 481. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Missouri is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $30,090 the take-home is $25,880; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $28,204 would nationally. The average comes to $38,170, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For bartenders the Missouri median is $30,090, ranking 27 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Missouri, this work ranks 481 of 488 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Post-tax income for bartenders in Missouri, on $30,090, is $25,880 — equivalent to $28,204 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $38,170 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Bartenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,090 |
| Top tenth earn over | $54,900 |
| This salary | $30,090 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Missouri | $25,880 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,357 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,080 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $29,496 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,306 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Missouri earn less than $30,090. The published range is $28,600 up to $54,900, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $25,880 take-home in Missouri comes from $30,090. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 481 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of Missouri, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $28,204, the adjusted value of that $30,090 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 481 of 488 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for bartenders in Missouri the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $28,600 to $54,900. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $25,880, from $30,090, assumes a single Missouri filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 481 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 27 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Missouri, so $28,204 — the adjusted value of that $30,090 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 481 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $38,170, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $28,600 and the top tenth $54,900 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $28,204.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Missouri then takes its own share, leaving $25,880.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Missouri is $38,170. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($28,600) and the ninetieth ($54,900) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Missouri's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $28,204 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $25,880 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Missouri income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.