Public Relations Specialists in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,362
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$11,768
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,794
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
$61,130
Kept after tax
$49,362
Worth in national money
$53,794
State rank
44
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for public relations specialists is on the low side in Missouri. The middle earner gets $61,130. That is 44 of 51 states, and about 18.22% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 488 occupations Missouri reports figures for, this is number 197.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $61,130 you keep $49,362, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $53,794 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $67,840, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For public relations specialists, Missouri sits in the lower band at $61,130, ranking 44 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 18.22%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In Missouri's occupational distribution, public relations specialists sits at 197 of 488 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After federal, FICA and Missouri income tax, retained pay for public relations specialists on $61,130 is $49,362. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $53,794 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 $67,840 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Public Relations Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,490 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,130 |
| Top tenth earn over | $102,850 |
| This salary | $61,130 |
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 | $49,362 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,298 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,004 |
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 | $58,721 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,215 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $61,130 as a midpoint for Missouri, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,490 and the ninetieth is $102,850 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $49,362 take-home in Missouri comes from $61,130. 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 197 of 488.
- Two cautions on $53,794, the adjusted value of that $61,130 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Missouri. 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 197 of 488 locally.
- The Missouri median of $61,130 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,490 to $102,850. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $49,362, from $61,130, 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 197 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 44 of 51 for it.
- This $53,794 adjusted figure, worked from $61,130, 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 197 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 197 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 $67,840, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $38,490 at the bottom tenth to $102,850 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $53,794.
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 Missouri's own levy, $49,362 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $67,840. 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 ($38,490) and the ninetieth ($102,850) 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 $53,794 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 $49,362 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.