Commercial Pilots in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$77,380
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$25,610
24.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$84,327
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
$102,990
Kept after tax
$77,380
Worth in national money
$84,327
State rank
37
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for commercial pilots is on the low side in Missouri. The middle earner gets $102,990. That is 37 of 48 states, and about 16.42% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 488 occupations Missouri reports, commercial pilots comes in at 38 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $102,990 you keep $77,380, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $84,327 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $119,400, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For commercial pilots, Missouri sits in the lower band at $102,990, ranking 37 of 48 and trailing the national median by about 16.42%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Commercial pilots ranks 38 of 488 occupations by median in Missouri, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- After federal, FICA and Missouri income tax, retained pay for commercial pilots on $102,990 is $77,380. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $84,327 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 $119,400 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Commercial Pilots
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,790 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $102,990 |
| Top tenth earn over | $212,000 |
| This salary | $102,990 |
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 | $77,380 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $81,283 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$681 |
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 | $97,442 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$940 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $102,990 as a midpoint for Missouri, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $50,790 and the ninetieth is $212,000 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Missouri's $77,380, worked from $102,990. 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 38 of 488.
- Two cautions on $84,327, the adjusted value of that $102,990 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 38 of 488 locally.
- The Missouri median of $102,990 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $50,790 to $212,000. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Missouri take-home of $77,380, on $102,990 for work ranking 38 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 38 of 488 in the state.
- This $84,327 adjusted figure, worked from $102,990, 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 38 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 38 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 $119,400 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 $50,790 at the bottom tenth to $212,000 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $84,327.
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 Missouri's own levy, $77,380 remains.
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 $119,400. 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 ($50,790) and the ninetieth ($212,000) 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 $84,327 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 $77,380 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.