Dishwashers in Missouri

Fresh vegetables and a plated meal at a professional kitchen prep station.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$27,439

after federal, FICA and Missouri tax

Tax takes

$4,711

14.7% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$29,902

Missouri costs less than average

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

$32,150

Kept after tax

$27,439

Worth in national money

$29,902

State rank

23

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Neither high nor low. Missouri is 23 of 51 states for dishwashers, with a middle wage of $32,150. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
  • Within Missouri this is lower-paid work. Of 488 occupations the state publishes figures for, dishwashers ranks 468. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
  • Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $32,150 you keep $27,439, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $29,902 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $33,900, because the best-paid pull it up.
  • Missouri ranks 23 of 51 for dishwashers at $32,150. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
  • Against every occupation Missouri reports, dishwashers ranks 468 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.
  • After federal, FICA and Missouri income tax, retained pay for dishwashers on $32,150 is $27,439. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $29,902 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 $33,900 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Dishwashers

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$28,600
Half earn under$32,150
Top tenth earn over$38,580
This salary$32,150

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

Compare with
+$574take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Missouri$27,439
Take-home in Texas$28,013
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$1,075

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

Moving to
$0$33,450
$33,450in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$31,436
Raise you would need+$1,300
Prices in Texas97 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 dishwashers in Missouri earn under $32,150 and half over. The published range runs $28,600 at the tenth percentile to $38,580 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
  • That $27,439 take-home in Missouri comes from $32,150. 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 468 of 488.
  • The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $29,902 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 468.
  • Figures are distribution medians for dishwashers in Missouri, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $28,600 to $38,580; 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.
  • Retained pay of $27,439, from $32,150, 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 468 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 23 of 51 for it.
  • Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $29,902, worked from $32,150, 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 468 of 488 locally.

Questions people ask

Is this the average pay for the job?

No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $33,900, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $28,600 at the tenth percentile, $38,580 at the ninetieth.

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 $29,902 in national terms.

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, $27,439 remains.

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 $33,900. 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 ($28,600 to $38,580) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Missouri rather than a national figure.

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 $29,902 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 $27,439 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.