Counter and Rental Clerks in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,804
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$6,116
16.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,659
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
$37,920
Kept after tax
$31,804
Worth in national money
$34,659
State rank
37
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Missouri pays counter and rental clerks a middle wage of $37,920, 37 of 51 states and about 8.18% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Missouri this is lower-paid work. Of 488 occupations the state publishes figures for, counter and rental clerks ranks 417. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $37,920 you keep $31,804 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $34,659 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $43,530, since top earners drag the number up.
- Missouri's $37,920 median for counter and rental clerks places it 37 of 51 states, about 8.18% 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.
- Against every occupation Missouri reports, counter and rental clerks ranks 417 of 488, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in Missouri is $31,804 after the full tax stack, from $37,920. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,659 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $43,530 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Counter and Rental Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,580 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,540 |
| This salary | $37,920 |
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 | $31,804 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,649 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,061 |
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 | $36,868 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,283 |
| 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 counter and rental clerks in Missouri earn under $37,920 and half over. The published range runs $29,580 at the tenth percentile to $63,540 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 $31,804, worked from $37,920. 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 417 of 488.
- Two cautions on $34,659, the adjusted value of that $37,920 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 417 of 488 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for counter and rental clerks in Missouri, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $29,580 to $63,540; 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 $31,804, on $37,920 for work ranking 417 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 417 of 488 in the state.
- This $34,659 adjusted figure, worked from $37,920, 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 417 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 417 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 $43,530, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $29,580, the highest tenth $63,540, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Missouri is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $34,659 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Missouri then takes its own share, leaving $31,804.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $43,530. 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 ($29,580) and the ninetieth ($63,540) 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 $34,659 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 $31,804 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.