Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,736
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$8,404
18.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,084
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
$45,140
Kept after tax
$36,736
Worth in national money
$42,084
State rank
44
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Mississippi. The middle earner gets $45,140. That is 44 of 50 states, and about 18.77% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Mississippi, this sits in the middle: 286 of 486 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Mississippi does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $45,140 you keep $36,736, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $42,084 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $45,300, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For legal secretaries and administrative assistants, Mississippi sits in the lower band at $45,140, ranking 44 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 18.77%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Legal secretaries and administrative assistants ranks 286 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.
- After federal, FICA and Mississippi income tax, retained pay for legal secretaries and administrative assistants on $45,140 is $36,736. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $42,084 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 $45,300 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,140 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,160 |
| This salary | $45,140 |
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 | $36,736 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,450 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,517 |
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 | $43,007 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,044 |
| 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 $45,140. The published range is $24,410 up to $63,160, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $36,736 take-home in Mississippi comes from $45,140. 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 286 of 486.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $42,084 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 286.
- Reported values are medians; for legal secretaries and administrative assistants in Mississippi the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $24,410 to $63,160. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $36,736, from $45,140, 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 286 of 486 locally, and the state ranks 44 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $42,084, worked from $45,140, 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 286 of 486 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $24,410, the highest tenth $63,160, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Mississippi sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $42,084 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $36,736.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($24,410) and the ninetieth ($63,160) 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 $42,084 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 $36,736 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.