Retail Salespersons in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$24,139
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$4,501
15.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,653
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
$28,640
Kept after tax
$24,139
Worth in national money
$27,653
State rank
51
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for retail salespersons is on the low side in Mississippi. The middle earner gets $28,640. That is 51 of 51 states, and about 19.12% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 486 occupations Mississippi publishes, retail salespersons lands at 447. 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 $28,640 you keep $24,139 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $27,653 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $31,150, since top earners drag the number up.
- For retail salespersons, Mississippi sits in the lower band at $28,640, ranking 51 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 19.12%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Mississippi, this work ranks 447 of 486 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 Mississippi is $24,139 after the full tax stack, from $28,640. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $27,653 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $31,150 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Retail Salespersons
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $22,120 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $28,640 |
| Top tenth earn over | $41,990 |
| This salary | $28,640 |
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 | $24,139 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $25,192 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,728 |
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 | $27,357 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,090 |
| 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 retail salespersons in Mississippi earn under $28,640 and half over. The published range runs $22,120 at the tenth percentile to $41,990 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Mississippi the take-home figure of $24,139, from $28,640, 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 447 of 486 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $27,653, the adjusted value of that $28,640 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 447 of 486 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for retail salespersons in Mississippi, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $22,120 to $41,990; 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.
- Take-home for Mississippi is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $24,139 from $28,640. 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 447 of 486 locally.
- This $27,653 adjusted figure, worked from $28,640, 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 447 of 486 in the state. The occupation ranks 447 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 $31,150, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $22,120 at the tenth percentile, $41,990 at the ninetieth.
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 $27,653.
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 $24,139.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $31,150. 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 ($22,120 to $41,990) 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 $27,653 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 $24,139 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.