Interpreters and Translators in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,891
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$11,239
19.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,572
Mississippi costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Mississippi — 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
$57,130
Kept after tax
$45,891
Worth in national money
$52,572
State rank
22
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Mississippi pays interpreters and translators around $57,130 at the midpoint, 22 of 47 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Mississippi, this sits in the middle: 180 of 486 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 $57,130 you keep $45,891 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $52,572 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $59,050, since top earners drag the number up.
- For interpreters and translators the Mississippi median is $57,130, ranking 22 of 47 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Interpreters and translators ranks 180 of 486 occupations in Mississippi 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 Mississippi is $45,891 after the full tax stack, from $57,130. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $52,572 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $59,050 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Interpreters and Translators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,020 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,130 |
| Top tenth earn over | $83,740 |
| This salary | $57,130 |
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 Mississippi | $45,891 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,084 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,090 |
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 | $54,400 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,737 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
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 interpreters and translators in Mississippi earn under $57,130 and half over. The published range runs $33,020 at the tenth percentile to $83,740 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Mississippi the take-home figure of $45,891, from $57,130, 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 180 of 486 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $52,572 uses one figure for the whole of Mississippi. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 486 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 180.
- Figures are distribution medians for interpreters and translators in Mississippi, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $33,020 to $83,740; 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 Mississippi is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $45,891 from $57,130. 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 180 of 486 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $52,572, worked from $57,130, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Mississippi address, on work sitting at 180 of 486 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 $59,050, 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 $33,020, the highest tenth $83,740, 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. Mississippi is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $52,572 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 Mississippi adds its own income tax on top — which is why $45,891 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 47 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 Mississippi is $59,050. 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 ($33,020) and the ninetieth ($83,740) 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?
Mississippi'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 $52,572 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 $45,891 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Mississippi 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.