Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,758
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$6,552
17.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,236
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
$37,310
Kept after tax
$30,758
Worth in national money
$35,236
State rank
49
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Mississippi pays drywall and ceiling tile installers a middle wage of $37,310, 49 of 49 states and about 36.69% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Mississippi this is lower-paid work. Of 486 occupations the state publishes figures for, drywall and ceiling tile installers ranks 371. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Mississippi does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $37,310 you keep $30,758, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $35,236 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $39,240, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Mississippi's $37,310 median for drywall and ceiling tile installers places it 49 of 49 states, about 36.69% 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 Mississippi reports, drywall and ceiling tile installers ranks 371 of 486, 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 Mississippi income tax, retained pay for drywall and ceiling tile installers on $37,310 is $30,758. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $35,236 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 $39,240 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,100 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $52,900 |
| This salary | $37,310 |
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 | $30,758 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,159 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,143 |
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 | $35,567 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,591 |
| 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 $37,310. The published range is $28,100 up to $52,900, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $30,758 take-home in Mississippi comes from $37,310. 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 371 of 486.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $35,236 uses one figure for the whole of Mississippi. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 486 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 371.
- Reported values are medians; for drywall and ceiling tile installers in Mississippi the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $28,100 to $52,900. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $30,758, from $37,310, assumes a single Mississippi 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 371 of 486 locally, and the state ranks 49 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $35,236, worked from $37,310, 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 Mississippi address, on work sitting at 371 of 486 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $39,240, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $28,100 and the top tenth $52,900, so most people doing this work in Mississippi sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $35,236 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 Mississippi's own levy, $30,758 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 Mississippi is $39,240. 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 ($28,100 to $52,900) 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 $35,236 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 $30,758 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.