Construction Laborers in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,034
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$10,696
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,166
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
$56,730
Kept after tax
$46,034
Worth in national money
$50,166
State rank
11
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Missouri pays construction laborers a middle wage of $56,730, ranking 11 of 51 states and sitting about 20.39% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Construction laborers ranks 253 among 488 occupations Missouri publishes pay for.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $56,730 you keep $46,034, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $50,166 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $60,850, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Missouri's median for construction laborers is $56,730, about 20.39% above the national figure and 11 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 253 of 488 in Missouri places construction laborers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After federal, FICA and Missouri income tax, retained pay for construction laborers on $56,730 is $46,034. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $50,166 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 $60,850 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Construction Laborers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,870 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,730 |
| Top tenth earn over | $83,470 |
| This salary | $56,730 |
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 | $46,034 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,763 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,015 |
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 | $54,578 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,228 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $56,730 as a midpoint for Missouri, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,870 and the ninetieth is $83,470 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $46,034 take-home in Missouri comes from $56,730. 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 253 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of Missouri, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $50,166, the adjusted value of that $56,730 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 253 of 488 in the state.
- The Missouri median of $56,730 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,870 to $83,470. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $46,034, from $56,730, 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 253 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 11 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Missouri, so $50,166 — the adjusted value of that $56,730 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 253 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $60,850, 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 $37,870 and the top tenth $83,470 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $50,166.
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, $46,034 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $60,850. 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 ($37,870) and the ninetieth ($83,470) 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 $50,166 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 $46,034 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.
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.