Machinists in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,531
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$11,179
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,799
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
$58,710
Kept after tax
$47,531
Worth in national money
$51,799
State rank
28
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Missouri pays machinists around $58,710 at the midpoint, 28 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Missouri, this sits in the middle: 232 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 $58,710 you keep $47,531, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $51,799 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $61,340, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For machinists the Missouri median is $58,710, ranking 28 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Machinists ranks 232 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 machinists on $58,710 is $47,531. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $51,799 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 $61,340 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Machinists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $44,120 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,710 |
| Top tenth earn over | $84,150 |
| This salary | $58,710 |
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 | $47,531 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,353 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,010 |
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 | $56,442 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,222 |
| 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 machinists in Missouri earn under $58,710 and half over. The published range runs $44,120 at the tenth percentile to $84,150 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Missouri's $47,531, worked from $58,710. 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 232 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of Missouri, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $51,799, the adjusted value of that $58,710 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 232 of 488 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for machinists in Missouri, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $44,120 to $84,150; 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.
- The Missouri take-home of $47,531, on $58,710 for work ranking 232 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 232 of 488 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Missouri, so $51,799 — the adjusted value of that $58,710 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 232 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $61,340, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $44,120 at the bottom tenth to $84,150 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $51,799 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 $47,531 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $61,340. 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 ($44,120 to $84,150) 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 $51,799 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 $47,531 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.