Office Clerks, General in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,918
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$5,982
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,128
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
$34,900
Kept after tax
$28,918
Worth in national money
$33,128
State rank
48
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Mississippi pays office clerks, general a middle wage of $34,900, 48 of 51 states and about 22.46% 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, office clerks, general ranks 413. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Mississippi is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $34,900 the take-home is $28,918; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $33,128 would nationally. The average comes to $36,250, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Mississippi's $34,900 median for office clerks, general places it 48 of 51 states, about 22.46% 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, office clerks, general ranks 413 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.
- Post-tax income for office clerks, general in Mississippi, on $34,900, is $28,918 — equivalent to $33,128 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 $36,250 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Office Clerks, General
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $21,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,900 |
| Top tenth earn over | $52,780 |
| This salary | $34,900 |
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 | $28,918 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,222 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,027 |
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 | $33,277 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,452 |
| 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 $34,900. The published range is $21,410 up to $52,780, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $28,918 take-home in Mississippi comes from $34,900. 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 413 of 486.
- Two cautions on $33,128, the adjusted value of that $34,900 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Mississippi. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 413 of 486 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for office clerks, general in Mississippi the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $21,410 to $52,780. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $28,918, from $34,900, 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 413 of 486 locally, and the state ranks 48 of 51 for it.
- This $33,128 adjusted figure, worked from $34,900, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 413 of 486 in the state. The occupation ranks 413 of 486 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $36,250, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $21,410, the highest tenth $52,780, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $33,128 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, $28,918 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $36,250. 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 ($21,410) and the ninetieth ($52,780) 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?
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 $33,128 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 $28,918 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.