Recreation Workers in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,080
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$5,240
15.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,691
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
$34,320
Kept after tax
$29,080
Worth in national money
$31,691
State rank
29
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Missouri pays recreation workers around $34,320 at the midpoint, 29 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 488 occupations Missouri publishes, recreation workers lands at 450. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $34,320 you keep $29,080 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $31,691 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $36,210, since top earners drag the number up.
- For recreation workers the Missouri median is $34,320, ranking 29 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Missouri, this work ranks 450 of 488 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.
- Retained pay in Missouri is $29,080 after the full tax stack, from $34,320. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $31,691 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $36,210 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Recreation Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,320 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,830 |
| This salary | $34,320 |
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 | $29,080 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,756 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,070 |
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 | $33,479 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,294 |
| 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 recreation workers in Missouri earn under $34,320 and half over. The published range runs $28,600 at the tenth percentile to $46,830 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 $29,080, worked from $34,320. 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 450 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of Missouri, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $31,691, the adjusted value of that $34,320 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 450 of 488 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for recreation workers in Missouri, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $28,600 to $46,830; 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 $29,080, on $34,320 for work ranking 450 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 450 of 488 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Missouri, so $31,691 — the adjusted value of that $34,320 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 450 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 $36,210, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $28,600 at the bottom tenth to $46,830 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $31,691.
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, $29,080 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $36,210. 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 $46,830) 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 $31,691 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 $29,080 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.