Clergy in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,318
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$10,132
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,478
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
$52,450
Kept after tax
$42,318
Worth in national money
$48,478
State rank
46
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for clergy is on the low side in Mississippi. The middle earner gets $52,450. That is 46 of 50 states, and about 13.75% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Mississippi, this sits in the middle: 203 of 486 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Mississippi is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $52,450 the take-home is $42,318; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $48,478 would nationally. The average comes to $56,880, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For clergy, Mississippi sits in the lower band at $52,450, ranking 46 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 13.75%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Clergy ranks 203 of 486 occupations in Mississippi by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Post-tax income for clergy in Mississippi, on $52,450, is $42,318 — equivalent to $48,478 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 $56,880 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Clergy
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,030 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $52,450 |
| Top tenth earn over | $85,810 |
| This salary | $52,450 |
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 | $42,318 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $44,324 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,866 |
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 | $49,953 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,466 |
| 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 clergy in Mississippi earn under $52,450 and half over. The published range runs $35,030 at the tenth percentile to $85,810 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Mississippi the take-home figure of $42,318, from $52,450, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 203 of 486 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $48,478, the adjusted value of that $52,450 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Mississippi. 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 203 of 486 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for clergy in Mississippi, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,030 to $85,810; 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.
- Take-home for Mississippi is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $42,318 from $52,450. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 203 of 486 locally.
- This $48,478 adjusted figure, worked from $52,450, 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 203 of 486 in the state. The occupation ranks 203 of 486 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $56,880, 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 $35,030 and the top tenth $85,810 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Mississippi is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $48,478 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Mississippi's own levy, $42,318 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 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 Mississippi is $56,880. 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 ($35,030) and the ninetieth ($85,810) 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?
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 $48,478 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 $42,318 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.