Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,470
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$11,481
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,821
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
$59,950
Kept after tax
$48,470
Worth in national money
$52,821
State rank
31
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Missouri is 31 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $59,950. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 488 occupations Missouri reports figures for, this is number 215.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $59,950 you keep $48,470, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $52,821 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $62,410, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Missouri ranks 31 of 51 for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers at $59,950. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- In Missouri's occupational distribution, heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers sits at 215 of 488 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After federal, FICA and Missouri income tax, retained pay for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers on $59,950 is $48,470. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $52,821 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 $62,410 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,180 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,950 |
| Top tenth earn over | $88,760 |
| This salary | $59,950 |
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 | $48,470 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,350 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,007 |
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 | $57,610 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,218 |
| 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 $59,950. The published range is $39,180 up to $88,760, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $48,470 take-home in Missouri comes from $59,950. 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 215 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of Missouri, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $52,821, the adjusted value of that $59,950 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 215 of 488 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers in Missouri the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $39,180 to $88,760. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $48,470, from $59,950, 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 215 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 31 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Missouri, so $52,821 — the adjusted value of that $59,950 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 215 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 $62,410 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $39,180, the highest tenth $88,760, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $52,821.
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 $48,470 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $62,410. 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 ($39,180) and the ninetieth ($88,760) 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 $52,821 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 $48,470 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.