Registered Nurses in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,456
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$18,324
22.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$69,153
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
$81,780
Kept after tax
$63,456
Worth in national money
$69,153
State rank
40
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Missouri pays registered nurses a middle wage of $81,780, 40 of 51 states and about 16.17% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Missouri this is well-paid work. Of 488 occupations with published figures in the state, registered nurses ranks 95 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $81,780 you keep $63,456, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $69,153 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $85,900, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Missouri's $81,780 median for registered nurses places it 40 of 51 states, about 16.17% 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.
- Ranked against every occupation Missouri publishes a median for, registered nurses sits 95 of 488 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- After federal, FICA and Missouri income tax, retained pay for registered nurses on $81,780 is $63,456. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $69,153 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 $85,900 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Registered Nurses
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $63,230 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $81,780 |
| Top tenth earn over | $104,390 |
| This salary | $81,780 |
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 | $63,456 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $66,362 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$861 |
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 | $77,649 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,190 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $81,780 as a midpoint for Missouri, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $63,230 and the ninetieth is $104,390 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Missouri's $63,456, worked from $81,780. 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 95 of 488.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $69,153 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 95.
- The Missouri median of $81,780 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $63,230 to $104,390. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Missouri take-home of $63,456, on $81,780 for work ranking 95 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 95 of 488 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $69,153, worked from $81,780, 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 95 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $85,900 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $63,230 at the bottom tenth to $104,390 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $69,153 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 $63,456 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $85,900. 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 ($63,230 to $104,390) 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 $69,153 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 $63,456 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.