Security Guards in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$24,551
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$4,629
15.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,125
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
$29,180
Kept after tax
$24,551
Worth in national money
$28,125
State rank
50
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Mississippi is among the lower-paying states for security guards. The middle earner takes $29,180, ranking 50 of 51 states — about 23.25% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Within Mississippi this is lower-paid work. Of 486 occupations the state publishes figures for, security guards ranks 444. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Mississippi does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $29,180 you keep $24,551, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $28,125 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $31,750, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Mississippi ranks 50 of 51 for security guards, with a median of $29,180 — about 23.25% 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.
- Against every occupation Mississippi reports, security guards ranks 444 of 486, 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.
- After federal, FICA and Mississippi income tax, retained pay for security guards on $29,180 is $24,551. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $28,125 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 $31,750 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Security Guards
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $21,690 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,180 |
| Top tenth earn over | $42,580 |
| This salary | $29,180 |
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 | $24,551 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $25,626 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,754 |
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 | $27,858 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,121 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $29,180 as a midpoint for Mississippi, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $21,690 and the ninetieth is $42,580 — 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 $24,551, worked from $29,180. 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 444 of 486.
- One number stands for prices across all of Mississippi, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $28,125, the adjusted value of that $29,180 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 444 of 486 in the state.
- The Mississippi median of $29,180 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $21,690 to $42,580. 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 $24,551, on $29,180 for work ranking 444 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 444 of 486 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Mississippi, so $28,125 — the adjusted value of that $29,180 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 444 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 $31,750, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $21,690 and the top tenth $42,580, so most people doing this work in Mississippi sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Mississippi is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $28,125 in national terms.
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 Mississippi adds its own income tax on top — which is why $24,551 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 Mississippi is $31,750. 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 ($21,690 to $42,580) 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 $28,125 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 $24,551 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.