Retail Salespersons in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,430
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$5,030
15.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,982
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
$33,460
Kept after tax
$28,430
Worth in national money
$30,982
State rank
32
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Missouri is 32 of 51 states for retail salespersons, with a middle wage of $33,460. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Missouri this is lower-paid work. Of 488 occupations the state publishes figures for, retail salespersons ranks 460. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $33,460 you keep $28,430 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $30,982 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $36,310, since top earners drag the number up.
- Missouri ranks 32 of 51 for retail salespersons at $33,460. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Missouri reports, retail salespersons ranks 460 of 488, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in Missouri is $28,430 after the full tax stack, from $33,460. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $30,982 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $36,310 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 | $28,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $33,460 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,610 |
| This salary | $33,460 |
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 | $28,430 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,065 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,072 |
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 | $32,669 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,297 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $33,460 as a midpoint for Missouri, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $28,600 and the ninetieth is $46,610 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Missouri the take-home figure of $28,430, from $33,460, 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 460 of 488 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $30,982 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 460.
- The Missouri median of $33,460 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $28,600 to $46,610. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Missouri is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $28,430 from $33,460. 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 460 of 488 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $30,982, worked from $33,460, 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 460 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $36,310, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $28,600 and the top tenth $46,610, so most people doing this work in Missouri sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $30,982.
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 $28,430 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 $36,310. 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 $46,610) 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 $30,982 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 $28,430 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.