Crane and Tower Operators in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,044
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$12,216
19.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,184
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
$61,260
Kept after tax
$49,044
Worth in national money
$56,184
State rank
38
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for crane and tower operators is on the low side in Mississippi. The middle earner gets $61,260. That is 38 of 50 states, and about 10.02% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Mississippi, this sits in the middle: 141 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 $61,260 you keep $49,044, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $56,184 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $56,090, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For crane and tower operators, Mississippi sits in the lower band at $61,260, ranking 38 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 10.02%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Crane and tower operators ranks 141 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 crane and tower operators on $61,260 is $49,044. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $56,184 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 $56,090 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Crane and Tower Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,690 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $73,840 |
| This salary | $61,260 |
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 | $49,044 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,402 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,287 |
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 | $58,325 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,975 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Mississippi earn less than $61,260. The published range is $34,690 up to $73,840, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Mississippi the take-home figure of $49,044, from $61,260, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 141 of 486 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $56,184, the adjusted value of that $61,260 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Mississippi. 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 141 of 486 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for crane and tower operators in Mississippi the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,690 to $73,840. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Mississippi is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $49,044 from $61,260. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 141 of 486 locally.
- This $56,184 adjusted figure, worked from $61,260, 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 141 of 486 in the state. The occupation ranks 141 of 486 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 $56,090 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $34,690 at the tenth percentile, $73,840 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Mississippi is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $56,184 in national terms.
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 $49,044 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 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 Mississippi is $56,090. 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 ($34,690 to $73,840) 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 $56,184 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 $49,044 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.
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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.