Cargo and Freight Agents in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,386
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$9,534
19.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,265
Mississippi costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Mississippi — 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
$49,920
Kept after tax
$40,386
Worth in national money
$46,265
State rank
28
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Mississippi is 28 of 48 states for cargo and freight agents, with a middle wage of $49,920. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 486 occupations Mississippi reports figures for, this is number 226.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $49,920 you keep $40,386 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $46,265 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $52,290, since top earners drag the number up.
- Mississippi ranks 28 of 48 for cargo and freight agents at $49,920. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- In Mississippi's occupational distribution, cargo and freight agents sits at 226 of 486 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay in Mississippi is $40,386 after the full tax stack, from $49,920. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $46,265 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $52,290 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Cargo and Freight Agents
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,360 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $70,530 |
| This salary | $49,920 |
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 Mississippi | $40,386 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,291 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,745 |
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 | $47,549 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,320 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of cargo and freight agents in Mississippi earn under $49,920 and half over. The published range runs $35,360 at the tenth percentile to $70,530 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $40,386 take-home in Mississippi comes from $49,920. 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 226 of 486.
- One number stands for prices across all of Mississippi, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $46,265, the adjusted value of that $49,920 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 226 of 486 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for cargo and freight agents in Mississippi, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,360 to $70,530; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $40,386, from $49,920, assumes a single Mississippi 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 226 of 486 locally, and the state ranks 28 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Mississippi, so $46,265 — the adjusted value of that $49,920 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 226 of 486 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $52,290, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $35,360 at the bottom tenth to $70,530 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Mississippi sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $46,265 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Mississippi adds its own income tax on top — which is why $40,386 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 48 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 Mississippi is $52,290. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($35,360 to $70,530) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Mississippi rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Mississippi'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 $46,265 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 $40,386 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Mississippi 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.