Postsecondary Teachers, All Other in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,914
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$11,946
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,396
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
$61,860
Kept after tax
$49,914
Worth in national money
$54,396
State rank
37
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Missouri pays this job a middle wage of $61,860, 37 of 48 states and about 20.32% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Missouri, this sits in the middle: 188 of 488 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $61,860 you keep $49,914, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $54,396 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $76,950, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Missouri's $61,860 median for postsecondary teachers, all other places it 37 of 48 states, about 20.32% 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.
- Postsecondary teachers, all other ranks 188 of 488 occupations in Missouri by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and Missouri income tax, retained pay for postsecondary teachers, all other on $61,860 is $49,914. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $54,396 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 $76,950 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Postsecondary Teachers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,530 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $126,860 |
| This salary | $61,860 |
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 | $49,914 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,885 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,003 |
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 | $59,408 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,213 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
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 postsecondary teachers, all other in Missouri earn under $61,860 and half over. The published range runs $46,530 at the tenth percentile to $126,860 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Missouri's $49,914, worked from $61,860. 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 188 of 488.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $54,396 uses one figure for the whole of Missouri. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 488 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 188.
- Figures are distribution medians for postsecondary teachers, all other in Missouri, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $46,530 to $126,860; 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.
- The Missouri take-home of $49,914, on $61,860 for work ranking 188 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 188 of 488 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $54,396, worked from $61,860, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Missouri address, on work sitting at 188 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 $76,950, 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 $46,530, the highest tenth $126,860, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $54,396.
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 $49,914 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 48 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 $76,950. 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 ($46,530) and the ninetieth ($126,860) 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?
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 $54,396 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 $49,914 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.