Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,979
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$6,311
17.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,344
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
$36,290
Kept after tax
$29,979
Worth in national money
$34,344
State rank
51
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Mississippi pays this job a middle wage of $36,290, 51 of 51 states and about 20.99% 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, this job ranks 391. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $36,290 you keep $29,979 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $34,344 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $38,510, since top earners drag the number up.
- Mississippi's $36,290 median for medical secretaries and administrative assistants places it 51 of 51 states, about 20.99% 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 secretaries and administrative assistants ranks 391 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 $29,979 after the full tax stack, from $36,290. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,344 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $38,510 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,290 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,410 |
| This salary | $36,290 |
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 | $29,979 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,339 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,094 |
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 | $34,598 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,532 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Mississippi earn less than $36,290. The published range is $29,890 up to $49,410, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Mississippi the take-home figure of $29,979, from $36,290, 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 391 of 486 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Mississippi, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $34,344, the adjusted value of that $36,290 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 391 of 486 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for medical secretaries and administrative assistants in Mississippi the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $29,890 to $49,410. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Mississippi is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $29,979 from $36,290. 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 391 of 486 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Mississippi, so $34,344 — the adjusted value of that $36,290 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 391 of 486 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $38,510, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $29,890 at the tenth percentile, $49,410 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Mississippi is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $34,344 in national terms.
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 $29,979 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 Mississippi is $38,510. 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 ($29,890 to $49,410) 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 $34,344 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 $29,979 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.