Power Plant Operators in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$76,864
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$25,536
24.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$88,054
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
$102,400
Kept after tax
$76,864
Worth in national money
$88,054
State rank
25
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Mississippi is 25 of 49 states for power plant operators, with a middle wage of $102,400. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Mississippi. It ranks 27 out of 486 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $102,400 you keep $76,864 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $88,054 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $96,620.
- Mississippi ranks 25 of 49 for power plant operators at $102,400. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Within Mississippi, power plant operators ranks 27 of 486 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in Mississippi is $76,864 after the full tax stack, from $102,400. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $88,054 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $96,620 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Power Plant Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $65,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $102,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $125,690 |
| This salary | $102,400 |
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 | $76,864 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $80,868 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,835 |
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 | $96,708 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$6,679 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $102,400 as a midpoint for Mississippi, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $65,770 and the ninetieth is $125,690 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Mississippi the take-home figure of $76,864, from $102,400, 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 27 of 486 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $88,054, the adjusted value of that $102,400 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 27 of 486 locally.
- The Mississippi median of $102,400 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $65,770 to $125,690. 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 $76,864 from $102,400. 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 27 of 486 locally.
- This $88,054 adjusted figure, worked from $102,400, 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 27 of 486 in the state. The occupation ranks 27 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 $96,620, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $65,770 and the top tenth $125,690, 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 $88,054 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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; Mississippi then takes its own share, leaving $76,864.
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 49 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 Mississippi is $96,620. 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 ($65,770 to $125,690) 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 $88,054 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 $76,864 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.