Occupational Therapy Assistants in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,342
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$12,308
20.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,525
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
$61,650
Kept after tax
$49,342
Worth in national money
$56,525
State rank
45
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Mississippi. The middle earner gets $61,650. That is 45 of 50 states, and about 14.73% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 486 occupations Mississippi reports figures for, this is number 139.
- Here is where Mississippi does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $61,650 you keep $49,342, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $56,525 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $63,530, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For occupational therapy assistants, Mississippi sits in the lower band at $61,650, ranking 45 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 14.73%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In Mississippi's occupational distribution, occupational therapy assistants sits at 139 of 486 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After federal, FICA and Mississippi income tax, retained pay for occupational therapy assistants on $61,650 is $49,342. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $56,525 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 $63,530 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Occupational Therapy Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,650 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,320 |
| This salary | $61,650 |
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 | $49,342 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,716 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,306 |
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 | $58,695 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,998 |
| 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 occupational therapy assistants in Mississippi earn under $61,650 and half over. The published range runs $51,920 at the tenth percentile to $78,320 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Mississippi the take-home figure of $49,342, from $61,650, 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 139 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 $56,525, the adjusted value of that $61,650 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 139 of 486 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for occupational therapy assistants in Mississippi, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $51,920 to $78,320; 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.
- Take-home for Mississippi is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $49,342 from $61,650. 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 139 of 486 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Mississippi, so $56,525 — the adjusted value of that $61,650 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 139 of 486 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $63,530 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $51,920 and the top tenth $78,320, so most people doing this work in Mississippi sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $56,525 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Mississippi's own levy, $49,342 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 Mississippi is $63,530. 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 ($51,920 to $78,320) 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 $56,525 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 $49,342 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.
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.