Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,100
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$9,430
18.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,879
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
$51,530
Kept after tax
$42,100
Worth in national money
$45,879
State rank
44
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Missouri is among the lower-paying states for earth drillers, except oil and gas. The middle earner takes $51,530, ranking 44 of 48 states — about 14.39% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Missouri, this sits in the middle: 272 of 488 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $51,530 you keep $42,100, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $45,879 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $53,250, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Missouri ranks 44 of 48 for earth drillers, except oil and gas, with a median of $51,530 — about 14.39% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Earth drillers, except oil and gas ranks 272 of 488 occupations in Missouri 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 Missouri income tax, retained pay for earth drillers, except oil and gas on $51,530 is $42,100. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $45,879 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 $53,250 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $51,530 |
| Top tenth earn over | $68,230 |
| This salary | $51,530 |
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 | $42,100 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,584 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,028 |
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 | $49,682 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,243 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $51,530 as a midpoint for Missouri, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,440 and the ninetieth is $68,230 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $42,100 take-home in Missouri comes from $51,530. 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 272 of 488.
- Two cautions on $45,879, the adjusted value of that $51,530 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Missouri. 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 272 of 488 locally.
- The Missouri median of $51,530 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,440 to $68,230. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $42,100, from $51,530, 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 272 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 44 of 48 for it.
- This $45,879 adjusted figure, worked from $51,530, 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 272 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 272 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 $53,250, 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?
The range here is narrow. From $37,440 at the bottom tenth to $68,230 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $45,879 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 $42,100.
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 48 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 $53,250. 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 ($37,440 to $68,230) 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 $45,879 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 $42,100 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.