Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,459
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$12,121
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,989
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
$62,580
Kept after tax
$50,459
Worth in national money
$54,989
State rank
9
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for drywall and ceiling tile installers is strong here. Missouri's middle earner gets $62,580, putting the state 9 of 49 — about 6.19% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Drywall and ceiling tile installers ranks 180 among 488 occupations Missouri publishes pay for.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $62,580 you keep $50,459, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $54,989 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $67,200, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For drywall and ceiling tile installers, Missouri sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $62,580, ranking 9 of 49 and running about 6.19% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Position 180 of 488 in Missouri places drywall and ceiling tile installers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After federal, FICA and Missouri income tax, retained pay for drywall and ceiling tile installers on $62,580 is $50,459. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $54,989 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 $67,200 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 | $46,310 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $91,780 |
| This salary | $62,580 |
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 | $50,459 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,463 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,001 |
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 | $60,086 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,210 |
| 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 drywall and ceiling tile installers in Missouri earn under $62,580 and half over. The published range runs $46,310 at the tenth percentile to $91,780 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $50,459 take-home in Missouri comes from $62,580. 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 180 of 488.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $54,989 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 180.
- Figures are distribution medians for drywall and ceiling tile installers in Missouri, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $46,310 to $91,780; 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 $50,459, from $62,580, 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 180 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 9 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $54,989, worked from $62,580, 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 180 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 $67,200 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 $46,310 and the top tenth $91,780 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $54,989 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 $50,459.
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 49 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 $67,200. 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 ($46,310) and the ninetieth ($91,780) 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 $54,989 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 $50,459 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.