Medical Transcriptionists in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,471
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$6,009
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,296
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
$37,480
Kept after tax
$31,471
Worth in national money
$34,296
State rank
34
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Missouri pays medical transcriptionists a middle wage of $37,480, 34 of 50 states and about 7.25% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Missouri this is lower-paid work. Of 488 occupations the state publishes figures for, medical transcriptionists ranks 424. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $37,480 you keep $31,471 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $34,296 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $39,900, since top earners drag the number up.
- Missouri's $37,480 median for medical transcriptionists places it 34 of 50 states, about 7.25% 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 Missouri reports, medical transcriptionists ranks 424 of 488, 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 Missouri is $31,471 after the full tax stack, from $37,480. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,296 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $39,900 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Medical Transcriptionists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,570 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,480 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,810 |
| This salary | $37,480 |
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 | $31,471 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,295 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,062 |
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 | $36,454 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,285 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $37,480 as a midpoint for Missouri, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,570 and the ninetieth is $49,810 — 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 $31,471, worked from $37,480. 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 424 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of Missouri, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $34,296, the adjusted value of that $37,480 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 424 of 488 in the state.
- The Missouri median of $37,480 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,570 to $49,810. 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 $31,471, on $37,480 for work ranking 424 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 424 of 488 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Missouri, so $34,296 — the adjusted value of that $37,480 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 424 of 488 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 $39,900, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $29,570 and the top tenth $49,810, so most people doing this work in Missouri sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $34,296 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $31,471.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $39,900. 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 ($29,570 to $49,810) 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 $34,296 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 $31,471 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.