Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,781
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$6,559
17.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,262
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
$37,340
Kept after tax
$30,781
Worth in national money
$35,262
State rank
51
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Mississippi is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $37,340, ranking 51 of 51 states — about 21.46% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Mississippi, this one sits low: 370 of 486 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Here is where Mississippi does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $37,340 you keep $30,781, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $35,262 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $39,590, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Mississippi ranks 51 of 51 for secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive, with a median of $37,340 — about 21.46% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive occupies position 370 of 486 in Mississippi's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- After federal, FICA and Mississippi income tax, retained pay for secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive on $37,340 is $30,781. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $35,262 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 $39,590 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $25,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,340 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,870 |
| This salary | $37,340 |
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 | $30,781 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,183 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,144 |
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 | $35,596 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,593 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $37,340 as a midpoint for Mississippi, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $25,770 and the ninetieth is $57,870 — 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 Mississippi's $30,781, worked from $37,340. 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 370 of 486.
- Two cautions on $35,262, the adjusted value of that $37,340 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 370 of 486 locally.
- The Mississippi median of $37,340 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $25,770 to $57,870. 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 Mississippi take-home of $30,781, on $37,340 for work ranking 370 of 486 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 370 of 486 in the state.
- This $35,262 adjusted figure, worked from $37,340, 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 370 of 486 in the state. The occupation ranks 370 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 $39,590 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $25,770 and the top tenth $57,870 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $35,262.
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, $30,781 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 Mississippi is $39,590. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($25,770) and the ninetieth ($57,870) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $35,262 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 $30,781 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.