Office Machine Operators, Except Computer in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,683
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$6,077
16.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,527
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
$37,760
Kept after tax
$31,683
Worth in national money
$34,527
State rank
32
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Missouri. The middle earner gets $37,760. That is 32 of 47 states, and about 7.81% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 488 occupations Missouri publishes, this job lands at 420. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $37,760 you keep $31,683, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $34,527 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $40,630, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For office machine operators, except computer, Missouri sits in the lower band at $37,760, ranking 32 of 47 and trailing the national median by about 7.81%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Missouri, this work ranks 420 of 488 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and Missouri income tax, retained pay for office machine operators, except computer on $37,760 is $31,683. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $34,527 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 $40,630 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Office Machine Operators, Except Computer
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,270 |
| This salary | $37,760 |
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 | $31,683 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,520 |
| 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 | $36,718 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,284 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $37,760 as a midpoint for Missouri, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,110 and the ninetieth is $49,270 — 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 $31,683, worked from $37,760. 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 420 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of Missouri, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $34,527, the adjusted value of that $37,760 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 420 of 488 in the state.
- The Missouri median of $37,760 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,110 to $49,270. 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 $31,683, on $37,760 for work ranking 420 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 420 of 488 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Missouri, so $34,527 — the adjusted value of that $37,760 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 420 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 $40,630, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $31,110 at the bottom tenth to $49,270 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Missouri is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $34,527 in national terms.
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 $31,683.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 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 Missouri is $40,630. 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 ($31,110 to $49,270) 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 $34,527 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 $31,683 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.