Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,288
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$6,272
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,187
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
$38,560
Kept after tax
$32,288
Worth in national money
$35,187
State rank
49
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Missouri is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $38,560, ranking 49 of 50 states — about 30.61% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Missouri, this one sits low: 409 of 488 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $38,560 you keep $32,288, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $35,187 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $46,610, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Missouri ranks 49 of 50 for legal secretaries and administrative assistants, with a median of $38,560 — about 30.61% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Legal secretaries and administrative assistants occupies position 409 of 488 in Missouri's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- After federal, FICA and Missouri income tax, retained pay for legal secretaries and administrative assistants on $38,560 is $32,288. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $35,187 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 $46,610 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 | $31,090 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,560 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,640 |
| This salary | $38,560 |
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 | $32,288 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,163 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,060 |
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 | $37,471 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,281 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
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 legal secretaries and administrative assistants in Missouri earn under $38,560 and half over. The published range runs $31,090 at the tenth percentile to $76,640 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $32,288 take-home in Missouri comes from $38,560. 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 409 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of Missouri, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $35,187, the adjusted value of that $38,560 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 409 of 488 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for legal secretaries and administrative assistants in Missouri, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,090 to $76,640; 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.
- Retained pay of $32,288, from $38,560, assumes a single Missouri 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 409 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 49 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Missouri, so $35,187 — the adjusted value of that $38,560 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 409 of 488 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 $46,610, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $31,090 and the top tenth $76,640 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $35,187 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Missouri adds its own income tax on top — which is why $32,288 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $46,610. 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 ($31,090) and the ninetieth ($76,640) 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?
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 $35,187 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 $32,288 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.
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.