Medical Assistants in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,269
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$6,091
17.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,530
Mississippi costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Mississippi — 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
$35,360
Kept after tax
$29,269
Worth in national money
$33,530
State rank
51
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Mississippi pays medical assistants a middle wage of $35,360, 51 of 51 states and about 22.61% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Mississippi this is lower-paid work. Of 486 occupations the state publishes figures for, medical assistants ranks 402. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $35,360 you keep $29,269 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $33,530 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $36,240, since top earners drag the number up.
- Mississippi's $35,360 median for medical assistants places it 51 of 51 states, about 22.61% 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.
- Against every occupation Mississippi reports, medical assistants ranks 402 of 486, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in Mississippi is $29,269 after the full tax stack, from $35,360. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $33,530 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $36,240 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Medical Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,210 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,070 |
| This salary | $35,360 |
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 Mississippi | $29,269 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,592 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,049 |
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 | $33,714 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,478 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
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 medical assistants in Mississippi earn under $35,360 and half over. The published range runs $29,210 at the tenth percentile to $45,070 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $29,269 take-home in Mississippi comes from $35,360. 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 402 of 486.
- One number stands for prices across all of Mississippi, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $33,530, the adjusted value of that $35,360 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 402 of 486 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for medical assistants in Mississippi, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $29,210 to $45,070; 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 $29,269, from $35,360, assumes a single Mississippi 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 402 of 486 locally, and the state ranks 51 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Mississippi, so $33,530 — the adjusted value of that $35,360 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 402 of 486 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $29,210 at the tenth percentile, $45,070 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Mississippi sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $33,530 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 Mississippi adds its own income tax on top — which is why $29,269 of this wage survives to your account.
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 ($29,210 to $45,070) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Mississippi rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Mississippi'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 $33,530 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 $29,269 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Mississippi 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.