Cargo and Freight Agents in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,578
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$9,262
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,310
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
$50,840
Kept after tax
$41,578
Worth in national money
$45,310
State rank
23
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Missouri pays cargo and freight agents around $50,840 at the midpoint, 23 of 48 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 488 occupations Missouri reports figures for, this is number 280.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $50,840 you keep $41,578 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $45,310 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $58,970, since top earners drag the number up.
- For cargo and freight agents the Missouri median is $50,840, ranking 23 of 48 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.
- In Missouri's occupational distribution, cargo and freight agents sits at 280 of 488 — 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 Missouri is $41,578 after the full tax stack, from $50,840. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $45,310 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $58,970 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 | $33,660 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $50,840 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,770 |
| This salary | $50,840 |
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 | $41,578 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,030 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,030 |
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 | $49,033 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,245 |
| 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 $50,840. The published range is $33,660 up to $81,770, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $41,578 take-home in Missouri comes from $50,840. 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 280 of 488.
- Two cautions on $45,310, the adjusted value of that $50,840 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Missouri. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 280 of 488 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for cargo and freight agents in Missouri the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $33,660 to $81,770. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $41,578, from $50,840, 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 280 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 23 of 48 for it.
- This $45,310 adjusted figure, worked from $50,840, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 280 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 280 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $58,970 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $33,660 at the bottom tenth to $81,770 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Missouri sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $45,310 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 Missouri adds its own income tax on top — which is why $41,578 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $58,970. 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 ($33,660) and the ninetieth ($81,770) 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 $45,310 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 $41,578 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.
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.