Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,734
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$16,376
21.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$65,096
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
$76,110
Kept after tax
$59,734
Worth in national money
$65,096
State rank
29
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Missouri sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $76,110, ranking 29 of 45 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 488 occupations Missouri reports, this job comes in at 118 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $76,110 you keep $59,734, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $65,096 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $86,550, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Missouri occupies the middle band for foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary: a median of $76,110, ranking 29 of 45. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary ranks 118 of 488 occupations by median in Missouri, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- After federal, FICA and Missouri income tax, retained pay for foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary on $76,110 is $59,734. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $65,096 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 $86,550 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,840 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,110 |
| Top tenth earn over | $146,900 |
| This salary | $76,110 |
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 | $59,734 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,373 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$910 |
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 | $72,358 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,256 |
| 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 foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary in Missouri earn under $76,110 and half over. The published range runs $46,840 at the tenth percentile to $146,900 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Missouri's $59,734, worked from $76,110. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 118 of 488.
- Two cautions on $65,096, the adjusted value of that $76,110 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 118 of 488 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary in Missouri, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $46,840 to $146,900; 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.
- The Missouri take-home of $59,734, on $76,110 for work ranking 118 of 488 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 118 of 488 in the state.
- This $65,096 adjusted figure, worked from $76,110, 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 118 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 118 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 $86,550 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $46,840 at the bottom tenth to $146,900 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 $65,096.
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 Missouri's own levy, $59,734 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 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 Missouri is $86,550. 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 ($46,840) and the ninetieth ($146,900) 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 $65,096 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 $59,734 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.