Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,154
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$3,976
13.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,412
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
$29,130
Kept after tax
$25,154
Worth in national money
$27,412
State rank
27
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Missouri is 27 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $29,130. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Missouri this is lower-paid work. Of 488 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 488. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $29,130 you keep $25,154, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $27,412 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $32,440, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Missouri ranks 27 of 51 for hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop at $29,130. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Missouri reports, hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop ranks 488 of 488, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After federal, FICA and Missouri income tax, retained pay for hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop on $29,130 is $25,154. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $27,412 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 $32,440 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,130 |
| Top tenth earn over | $37,440 |
| This salary | $29,130 |
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 | $25,154 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $25,586 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,083 |
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 | $28,593 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,309 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $29,130 as a midpoint for Missouri, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $28,600 and the ninetieth is $37,440 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Missouri the take-home figure of $25,154, from $29,130, 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 488 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 $27,412, the adjusted value of that $29,130 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 488 of 488 in the state.
- The Missouri median of $29,130 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $28,600 to $37,440. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Missouri is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $25,154 from $29,130. 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 488 of 488 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Missouri, so $27,412 — the adjusted value of that $29,130 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 488 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 $32,440 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $28,600 and the top tenth $37,440, so most people doing this work in Missouri sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $27,412.
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, $25,154 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $32,440. 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 ($28,600 to $37,440) 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 $27,412 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 $25,154 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.