English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$57,738
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$15,332
21.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$62,921
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
$73,070
Kept after tax
$57,738
Worth in national money
$62,921
State rank
28
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Missouri is 28 of 49 states for this job, with a middle wage of $73,070. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Missouri, this sits in the middle: 134 of 488 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $73,070 you keep $57,738 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $62,921 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $79,580, since top earners drag the number up.
- Missouri ranks 28 of 49 for english language and literature teachers, postsecondary at $73,070. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- English language and literature teachers, postsecondary ranks 134 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.
- Retained pay in Missouri is $57,738 after the full tax stack, from $73,070. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $62,921 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $79,580 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,310 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $73,070 |
| Top tenth earn over | $111,020 |
| This salary | $73,070 |
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 | $57,738 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $60,235 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$935 |
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 | $69,521 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,292 |
| 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 english language and literature teachers, postsecondary in Missouri earn under $73,070 and half over. The published range runs $47,310 at the tenth percentile to $111,020 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Missouri the take-home figure of $57,738, from $73,070, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 134 of 488 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Missouri, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $62,921, the adjusted value of that $73,070 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 134 of 488 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for english language and literature teachers, postsecondary in Missouri, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $47,310 to $111,020; 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.
- Take-home for Missouri is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $57,738 from $73,070. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 134 of 488 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Missouri, so $62,921 — the adjusted value of that $73,070 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 134 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 $79,580, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $47,310, the highest tenth $111,020, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $62,921 in national terms.
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 $57,738 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 $79,580. 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 ($47,310) and the ninetieth ($111,020) 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 $62,921 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 $57,738 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.