Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,985
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$11,325
19.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,293
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
$59,310
Kept after tax
$47,985
Worth in national money
$52,293
State rank
44
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Missouri pays this job a middle wage of $59,310, 44 of 51 states and about 7.86% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Missouri, this sits in the middle: 224 of 488 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Missouri is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $59,310 the take-home is $47,985; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $52,293 would nationally. The average comes to $61,510, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Missouri's $59,310 median for middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education places it 44 of 51 states, about 7.86% 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.
- Middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education ranks 224 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.
- Post-tax income for middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education in Missouri, on $59,310, is $47,985 — equivalent to $52,293 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $61,510 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,760 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $91,130 |
| This salary | $59,310 |
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 | $47,985 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,836 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,009 |
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 | $57,007 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,220 |
| 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 middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education in Missouri earn under $59,310 and half over. The published range runs $43,760 at the tenth percentile to $91,130 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $47,985 take-home in Missouri comes from $59,310. 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 224 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of Missouri, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $52,293, the adjusted value of that $59,310 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 224 of 488 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education in Missouri, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $43,760 to $91,130; 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 $47,985, from $59,310, 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 224 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 44 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Missouri, so $52,293 — the adjusted value of that $59,310 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 224 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 $61,510, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $43,760 and the top tenth $91,130 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $52,293.
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 $47,985.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $61,510. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($43,760) and the ninetieth ($91,130) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $52,293 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 $47,985 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.