Physical Therapist Aides in Missouri

A stethoscope and folded scrubs in a sunlit clinical workspace.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$25,245

after federal, FICA and Missouri tax

Tax takes

$4,005

13.7% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$27,511

Missouri costs less than average

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

$29,250

Kept after tax

$25,245

Worth in national money

$27,511

State rank

41

of 50 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Missouri is among the lower-paying states for physical therapist aides. The middle earner takes $29,250, ranking 41 of 50 states — about 17% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
  • Measured against other jobs in Missouri, this one sits low: 487 of 488 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
  • Missouri is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $29,250 the take-home is $25,245; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $27,511 would nationally. The average comes to $32,750, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
  • Missouri ranks 41 of 50 for physical therapist aides, with a median of $29,250 — about 17% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
  • Physical therapist aides occupies position 487 of 488 in Missouri's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
  • Post-tax income for physical therapist aides in Missouri, on $29,250, is $25,245 — equivalent to $27,511 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 $32,750 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Physical Therapist Aides

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$28,600
Half earn under$29,250
Top tenth earn over$39,140
This salary$29,250

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

Compare with
+$437take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Missouri$25,245
Take-home in Texas$25,682
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$1,082

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

Moving to
$0$30,559
$30,559in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$28,706
Raise you would need+$1,309
Prices in Texas97 vs 92

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Half the people doing this work in Missouri earn less than $29,250. The published range is $28,600 up to $39,140, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
  • That $25,245 take-home in Missouri comes from $29,250. 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 487 of 488.
  • One number stands for prices across all of Missouri, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $27,511, the adjusted value of that $29,250 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 487 of 488 in the state.
  • Reported values are medians; for physical therapist aides in Missouri the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $28,600 to $39,140. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • Retained pay of $25,245, from $29,250, 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 487 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 50 for it.
  • Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Missouri, so $27,511 — the adjusted value of that $29,250 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 487 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 $32,750, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $28,600 at the tenth percentile, $39,140 at the ninetieth.

What does this pay actually buy where I live?

More than the figure suggests. Prices in Missouri sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $27,511 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.

Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?

Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Missouri adds its own income tax on top — which is why $25,245 of this wage survives to your account.

Why is this job missing from some states?

Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.

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 $32,750. 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 ($28,600 to $39,140) 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 $27,511 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 $25,245 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.