Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,544
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$6,486
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,991
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
$37,030
Kept after tax
$30,544
Worth in national money
$34,991
State rank
50
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 $37,030. That is 50 of 50 states, and about 30.58% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 486 occupations Mississippi publishes, this job lands at 375. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Mississippi does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $37,030 you keep $30,544, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $34,991 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $40,780, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators, Mississippi sits in the lower band at $37,030, ranking 50 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 30.58%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Mississippi, this work ranks 375 of 486 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 Mississippi income tax, retained pay for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators on $37,030 is $30,544. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $34,991 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 $40,780 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,030 |
| Top tenth earn over | $51,280 |
| This salary | $37,030 |
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 | $30,544 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,934 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,129 |
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 | $35,301 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,575 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $37,030 as a midpoint for Mississippi, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,250 and the ninetieth is $51,280 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Mississippi the take-home figure of $30,544, from $37,030, 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 375 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 $34,991, the adjusted value of that $37,030 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 375 of 486 in the state.
- The Mississippi median of $37,030 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,250 to $51,280. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Mississippi is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $30,544 from $37,030. 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 375 of 486 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Mississippi, so $34,991 — the adjusted value of that $37,030 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 375 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 $40,780 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 $30,250 and the top tenth $51,280, 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 $34,991 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, $30,544 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $40,780. 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 ($30,250 to $51,280) 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 $34,991 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 $30,544 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.