Credit Counselors in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,251
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$4,329
14.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,608
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
$30,580
Kept after tax
$26,251
Worth in national money
$28,608
State rank
46
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for credit counselors is on the low side in Missouri. The middle earner gets $30,580. That is 46 of 46 states, and about 41.45% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 488 occupations Missouri publishes, credit counselors lands at 478. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $30,580 you keep $26,251 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $28,608 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $40,230, since top earners drag the number up.
- For credit counselors, Missouri sits in the lower band at $30,580, ranking 46 of 46 and trailing the national median by about 41.45%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Missouri, this work ranks 478 of 488 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in Missouri is $26,251 after the full tax stack, from $30,580. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $28,608 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $40,230 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Credit Counselors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,100 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,210 |
| This salary | $30,580 |
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 | $26,251 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,751 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,079 |
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 | $29,958 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,305 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $30,580 as a midpoint for Missouri, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,100 and the ninetieth is $64,210 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Missouri the take-home figure of $26,251, from $30,580, 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 478 of 488 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $28,608 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 478.
- The Missouri median of $30,580 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,100 to $64,210. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Missouri is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $26,251 from $30,580. 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 478 of 488 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $28,608, worked from $30,580, 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 478 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 $40,230 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $29,100 and the top tenth $64,210 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Missouri sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $28,608 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $26,251.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 46 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $40,230. 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 ($29,100) and the ninetieth ($64,210) 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 $28,608 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 $26,251 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.
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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.