Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,665
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$11,865
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,123
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
$61,530
Kept after tax
$49,665
Worth in national money
$54,123
State rank
41
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Missouri is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $61,530, ranking 41 of 51 states — about 4.46% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Missouri, this sits in the middle: 191 of 488 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $61,530 you keep $49,665, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $54,123 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $62,410, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Missouri ranks 41 of 51 for licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses, with a median of $61,530 — about 4.46% 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.
- Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses ranks 191 of 488 occupations in Missouri 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 Missouri income tax, retained pay for licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses on $61,530 is $49,665. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $54,123 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 $62,410 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,580 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,530 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,120 |
| This salary | $61,530 |
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 | $49,665 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,619 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,003 |
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 | $59,097 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,214 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $61,530 as a midpoint for Missouri, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $48,580 and the ninetieth is $77,120 — 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 $49,665, worked from $61,530. 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 191 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of Missouri, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $54,123, the adjusted value of that $61,530 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 191 of 488 in the state.
- The Missouri median of $61,530 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $48,580 to $77,120. 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 $49,665, on $61,530 for work ranking 191 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 191 of 488 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Missouri, so $54,123 — the adjusted value of that $61,530 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 191 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $48,580 and the top tenth $77,120, so most people doing this work in Missouri sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Missouri is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $54,123 in national terms.
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; Missouri then takes its own share, leaving $49,665.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($48,580 to $77,120) 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 $54,123 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 $49,665 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.