Funeral Attendants in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,825
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$6,445
16.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,772
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
$39,270
Kept after tax
$32,825
Worth in national money
$35,772
State rank
16
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Missouri pays funeral attendants a middle wage of $39,270, ranking 16 of 48 states and sitting about 10.06% above the national middle.
- Measured against other jobs in Missouri, this one sits low: 399 of 488 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $39,270 you keep $32,825 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $35,772 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $41,520, since top earners drag the number up.
- Missouri's median for funeral attendants is $39,270, about 10.06% above the national figure and 16 of 48 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Funeral attendants occupies position 399 of 488 in Missouri's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay in Missouri is $32,825 after the full tax stack, from $39,270. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $35,772 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $41,520 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Funeral Attendants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $52,910 |
| This salary | $39,270 |
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 | $32,825 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,733 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,058 |
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 | $38,139 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,279 |
| 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 funeral attendants in Missouri earn under $39,270 and half over. The published range runs $30,250 at the tenth percentile to $52,910 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Missouri the take-home figure of $32,825, from $39,270, 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 399 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 $35,772, the adjusted value of that $39,270 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 399 of 488 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for funeral attendants in Missouri, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,250 to $52,910; 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 $32,825 from $39,270. 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 399 of 488 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Missouri, so $35,772 — the adjusted value of that $39,270 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 399 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 $41,520, 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 $30,250 at the bottom tenth to $52,910 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 $35,772 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 $32,825.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 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 $41,520. 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 ($30,250 to $52,910) 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 $35,772 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 $32,825 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.