Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,422
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$5,209
16.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,268
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
$31,630
Kept after tax
$26,422
Worth in national money
$30,268
State rank
51
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Mississippi pays landscaping and groundskeeping workers a middle wage of $31,630, 51 of 51 states and about 19.21% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Mississippi this is lower-paid work. Of 486 occupations the state publishes figures for, landscaping and groundskeeping workers ranks 427. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $31,630 you keep $26,422 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $30,268 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $33,520, since top earners drag the number up.
- Mississippi's $31,630 median for landscaping and groundskeeping workers places it 51 of 51 states, about 19.21% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Mississippi reports, landscaping and groundskeeping workers ranks 427 of 486, 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.
- Retained pay in Mississippi is $26,422 after the full tax stack, from $31,630. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $30,268 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $33,520 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,380 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $31,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,390 |
| This salary | $31,630 |
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 | $26,422 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $27,595 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,871 |
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 | $30,170 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,263 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Mississippi earn less than $31,630. The published range is $24,380 up to $45,390, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $26,422 take-home in Mississippi comes from $31,630. 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 427 of 486.
- One number stands for prices across all of Mississippi, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $30,268, the adjusted value of that $31,630 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 427 of 486 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for landscaping and groundskeeping workers in Mississippi the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $24,380 to $45,390. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $26,422, from $31,630, assumes a single Mississippi 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 427 of 486 locally, and the state ranks 51 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Mississippi, so $30,268 — the adjusted value of that $31,630 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 427 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 $33,520, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $24,380 at the tenth percentile, $45,390 at the ninetieth.
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 $30,268.
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; Mississippi then takes its own share, leaving $26,422.
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 Mississippi is $33,520. 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 ($24,380 to $45,390) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Mississippi rather than a national figure.
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 $30,268 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 $26,422 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.
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.