Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,112
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$8,468
17.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,623
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
$47,580
Kept after tax
$39,112
Worth in national money
$42,623
State rank
33
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Missouri sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $47,580, ranking 33 of 50 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Missouri, this sits in the middle: 318 of 488 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $47,580 you keep $39,112, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $42,623 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $51,370, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Missouri occupies the middle band for coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders: a median of $47,580, ranking 33 of 50. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders ranks 318 of 488 occupations in Missouri 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.
- After federal, FICA and Missouri income tax, retained pay for coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders on $47,580 is $39,112. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $42,623 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $51,370 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,500 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,120 |
| This salary | $47,580 |
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 | $39,112 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,411 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,038 |
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 | $45,963 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,255 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
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 coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders in Missouri earn under $47,580 and half over. The published range runs $36,500 at the tenth percentile to $76,120 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Missouri's $39,112, worked from $47,580. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 318 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of Missouri, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $42,623, the adjusted value of that $47,580 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 318 of 488 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders in Missouri, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,500 to $76,120; 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.
- The Missouri take-home of $39,112, on $47,580 for work ranking 318 of 488 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 318 of 488 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Missouri, so $42,623 — the adjusted value of that $47,580 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 318 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 $51,370 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $36,500, the highest tenth $76,120, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $42,623 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 $39,112 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 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 Missouri is $51,370. 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 ($36,500) and the ninetieth ($76,120) 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 $42,623 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 $39,112 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.