Education Teachers, Postsecondary in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,978
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$12,932
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,734
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
$65,910
Kept after tax
$52,978
Worth in national money
$57,734
State rank
33
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Missouri. The middle earner gets $65,910. That is 33 of 49 states, and about 12.53% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 160 among 488 occupations Missouri publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $65,910 you keep $52,978 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $57,734 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $72,890, since top earners drag the number up.
- For education teachers, postsecondary, Missouri sits in the lower band at $65,910, ranking 33 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 12.53%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 160 of 488 in Missouri places education teachers, postsecondary 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.
- Retained pay in Missouri is $52,978 after the full tax stack, from $65,910. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $57,734 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $72,890 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Education Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,620 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $65,910 |
| Top tenth earn over | $104,210 |
| This salary | $65,910 |
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 | $52,978 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,139 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$993 |
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 | $63,221 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,287 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Missouri earn less than $65,910. The published range is $40,620 up to $104,210, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $52,978 take-home in Missouri comes from $65,910. 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 160 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of Missouri, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $57,734, the adjusted value of that $65,910 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 160 of 488 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for education teachers, postsecondary in Missouri the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $40,620 to $104,210. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $52,978, from $65,910, 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 160 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 33 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Missouri, so $57,734 — the adjusted value of that $65,910 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 160 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $72,890, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $40,620 at the bottom tenth to $104,210 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $57,734.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Missouri adds its own income tax on top — which is why $52,978 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $72,890. 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 ($40,620) and the ninetieth ($104,210) 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 $57,734 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 $52,978 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.