Cost Estimators in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,674
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$16,346
21.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$65,032
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
$76,020
Kept after tax
$59,674
Worth in national money
$65,032
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Missouri pays cost estimators a middle wage of $76,020, 36 of 51 states and about 3.45% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 488 occupations Missouri reports, cost estimators comes in at 120 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $76,020 you keep $59,674, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $65,032 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $81,220, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Missouri's $76,020 median for cost estimators places it 36 of 51 states, about 3.45% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Cost estimators ranks 120 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 cost estimators on $76,020 is $59,674. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $65,032 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 $81,220 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Cost Estimators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $44,840 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,020 |
| Top tenth earn over | $128,270 |
| This salary | $76,020 |
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 | $59,674 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,310 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$910 |
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 | $72,274 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,257 |
| 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 cost estimators in Missouri earn under $76,020 and half over. The published range runs $44,840 at the tenth percentile to $128,270 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 $59,674, worked from $76,020. 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 120 of 488.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $65,032 uses one figure for the whole of Missouri. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 488 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 120.
- Figures are distribution medians for cost estimators in Missouri, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $44,840 to $128,270; 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 $59,674, on $76,020 for work ranking 120 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 120 of 488 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $65,032, worked from $76,020, 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 Missouri address, on work sitting at 120 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 $81,220 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 $44,840 at the bottom tenth to $128,270 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 $65,032.
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 $59,674 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 Missouri is $81,220. 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 ($44,840) and the ninetieth ($128,270) 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 $65,032 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 $59,674 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.