Construction Laborers in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,064
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$6,646
17.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,586
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
$37,710
Kept after tax
$31,064
Worth in national money
$35,586
State rank
49
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for construction laborers is on the low side in Mississippi. The middle earner gets $37,710. That is 49 of 51 states, and about 19.97% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Mississippi, this sits in the middle: 363 of 486 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Mississippi does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $37,710 you keep $31,064, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $35,586 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $40,310, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For construction laborers, Mississippi sits in the lower band at $37,710, ranking 49 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 19.97%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Construction laborers ranks 363 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.
- After federal, FICA and Mississippi income tax, retained pay for construction laborers on $37,710 is $31,064. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $35,586 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 $40,310 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Construction Laborers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,370 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,710 |
| Top tenth earn over | $52,640 |
| This salary | $37,710 |
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 | $31,064 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,480 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,162 |
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 | $35,947 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,614 |
| 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 construction laborers in Mississippi earn under $37,710 and half over. The published range runs $29,370 at the tenth percentile to $52,640 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $31,064 take-home in Mississippi comes from $37,710. 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 363 of 486.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $35,586 uses one figure for the whole of Mississippi. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 486 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 363.
- Figures are distribution medians for construction laborers in Mississippi, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $29,370 to $52,640; 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 $31,064, from $37,710, 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 363 of 486 locally, and the state ranks 49 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $35,586, worked from $37,710, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Mississippi address, on work sitting at 363 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 $40,310, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $29,370 at the tenth percentile, $52,640 at the ninetieth.
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 $35,586.
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 $31,064 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $40,310. 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 ($29,370 to $52,640) 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 $35,586 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 $31,064 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.