Respiratory Therapists in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,579
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$12,691
20.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,942
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
$63,270
Kept after tax
$50,579
Worth in national money
$57,942
State rank
51
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for respiratory therapists is on the low side in Mississippi. The middle earner gets $63,270. That is 51 of 51 states, and about 23.1% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Respiratory therapists ranks 129 among 486 occupations Mississippi publishes pay for.
- Mississippi is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $63,270 the take-home is $50,579; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $57,942 would nationally. The average comes to $68,120, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For respiratory therapists, Mississippi sits in the lower band at $63,270, ranking 51 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 23.1%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 129 of 486 in Mississippi places respiratory therapists in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Post-tax income for respiratory therapists in Mississippi, on $63,270, is $50,579 — equivalent to $57,942 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $68,120 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Respiratory Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,180 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $80,460 |
| This salary | $63,270 |
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 | $50,579 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,017 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,383 |
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 | $60,235 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,214 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
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 respiratory therapists in Mississippi earn under $63,270 and half over. The published range runs $50,180 at the tenth percentile to $80,460 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $50,579 take-home in Mississippi comes from $63,270. 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 129 of 486.
- Two cautions on $57,942, the adjusted value of that $63,270 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 129 of 486 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for respiratory therapists in Mississippi, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $50,180 to $80,460; 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.
- Retained pay of $50,579, from $63,270, assumes a single Mississippi 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 129 of 486 locally, and the state ranks 51 of 51 for it.
- This $57,942 adjusted figure, worked from $63,270, 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 129 of 486 in the state. The occupation ranks 129 of 486 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 $68,120 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $50,180 at the tenth percentile, $80,460 at the ninetieth.
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 $57,942 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Mississippi's own levy, $50,579 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 Mississippi is $68,120. 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 ($50,180 to $80,460) 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 $57,942 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 $50,579 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.
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.