Library Assistants, Clerical in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,657
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$5,103
15.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,229
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
$33,760
Kept after tax
$28,657
Worth in national money
$31,229
State rank
35
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for library assistants, clerical is on the low side in Missouri. The middle earner gets $33,760. That is 35 of 50 states, and about 8.53% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 488 occupations Missouri publishes, library assistants, clerical lands at 457. 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 $33,760 the take-home is $28,657; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $31,229 would nationally. The average comes to $34,220, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For library assistants, clerical, Missouri sits in the lower band at $33,760, ranking 35 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 8.53%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Missouri, this work ranks 457 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 library assistants, clerical in Missouri, on $33,760, is $28,657 — equivalent to $31,229 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 $34,220 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Library Assistants, Clerical
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $33,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $40,780 |
| This salary | $33,760 |
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 | $28,657 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,306 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,071 |
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 | $32,952 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,296 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Missouri earn less than $33,760. The published range is $28,600 up to $40,780, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Missouri the take-home figure of $28,657, from $33,760, 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 457 of 488 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $31,229, the adjusted value of that $33,760 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Missouri. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 457 of 488 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for library assistants, clerical in Missouri the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $28,600 to $40,780. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Missouri is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $28,657 from $33,760. 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 457 of 488 locally.
- This $31,229 adjusted figure, worked from $33,760, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 457 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 457 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $28,600 at the bottom tenth to $40,780 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $31,229.
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, $28,657 remains.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($28,600 to $40,780) 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 $31,229 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 $28,657 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.