Materials Engineers in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$74,669
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$24,191
24.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$81,372
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
$98,860
Kept after tax
$74,669
Worth in national money
$81,372
State rank
34
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Missouri pays materials engineers a middle wage of $98,860, 34 of 45 states and about 12.4% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Missouri this is well-paid work. Of 488 occupations with published figures in the state, materials engineers ranks 59 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $98,860 you keep $74,669, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $81,372 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $102,030, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Missouri's $98,860 median for materials engineers places it 34 of 45 states, about 12.4% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Ranked against every occupation Missouri publishes a median for, materials engineers sits 59 of 488 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- After federal, FICA and Missouri income tax, retained pay for materials engineers on $98,860 is $74,669. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $81,372 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 $102,030 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Materials Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $65,870 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $98,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $135,280 |
| This salary | $98,860 |
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 | $74,669 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $78,378 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$716 |
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 | $93,588 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$989 |
| 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 materials engineers in Missouri earn under $98,860 and half over. The published range runs $65,870 at the tenth percentile to $135,280 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $74,669 take-home in Missouri comes from $98,860. 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 59 of 488.
- Two cautions on $81,372, the adjusted value of that $98,860 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 59 of 488 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for materials engineers in Missouri, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $65,870 to $135,280; 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 $74,669, from $98,860, 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 59 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 34 of 45 for it.
- This $81,372 adjusted figure, worked from $98,860, 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 59 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 59 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 $102,030, 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 $65,870 at the bottom tenth to $135,280 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 $81,372 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 $74,669 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $102,030. 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 ($65,870 to $135,280) 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 $81,372 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 $74,669 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.