Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,681
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$6,399
16.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,615
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
$39,080
Kept after tax
$32,681
Worth in national money
$35,615
State rank
34
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Missouri pays this job around $39,080 at the midpoint, 34 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 488 occupations Missouri publishes, this job lands at 403. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Missouri is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $39,080 the take-home is $32,681; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $35,615 would nationally. The average comes to $41,190, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand the Missouri median is $39,080, ranking 34 of 51 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.
- Within Missouri, this work ranks 403 of 488 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Post-tax income for laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand in Missouri, on $39,080, is $32,681 — equivalent to $35,615 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $41,190 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,380 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,080 |
| Top tenth earn over | $52,520 |
| This salary | $39,080 |
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 | $32,681 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,581 |
| 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 | $37,961 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,280 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $39,080 as a midpoint for Missouri, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,380 and the ninetieth is $52,520 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Missouri's $32,681, worked from $39,080. 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 403 of 488.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $35,615 uses one figure for the whole of Missouri. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 488 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 403.
- The Missouri median of $39,080 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,380 to $52,520. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Missouri take-home of $32,681, on $39,080 for work ranking 403 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 403 of 488 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $35,615, worked from $39,080, 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 Missouri address, on work sitting at 403 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $41,190, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $30,380 at the tenth percentile, $52,520 at the ninetieth.
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 $35,615 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $32,681 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $41,190. 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 ($30,380 to $52,520) 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 $35,615 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 $32,681 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.