Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,949
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$6,921
17.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,600
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
$38,870
Kept after tax
$31,949
Worth in national money
$36,600
State rank
47
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Mississippi. The middle earner gets $38,870. That is 47 of 49 states, and about 22.07% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Mississippi, this sits in the middle: 343 of 486 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Mississippi does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $38,870 you keep $31,949, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $36,600 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $42,380, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleaners, Mississippi sits in the lower band at $38,870, ranking 47 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 22.07%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleaners ranks 343 of 486 occupations in Mississippi by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and Mississippi income tax, retained pay for septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleaners on $38,870 is $31,949. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $36,600 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 $42,380 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $26,530 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,870 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,670 |
| This salary | $38,870 |
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 | $31,949 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,412 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,217 |
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 | $37,049 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,681 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $38,870 as a midpoint for Mississippi, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $26,530 and the ninetieth is $60,670 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Mississippi the take-home figure of $31,949, from $38,870, 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 343 of 486 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $36,600, the adjusted value of that $38,870 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 343 of 486 locally.
- The Mississippi median of $38,870 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $26,530 to $60,670. 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 Mississippi is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,949 from $38,870. 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 343 of 486 locally.
- This $36,600 adjusted figure, worked from $38,870, 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 343 of 486 in the state. The occupation ranks 343 of 486 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 $42,380, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $26,530 and the top tenth $60,670 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $36,600 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $31,949 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $42,380. 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 ($26,530) and the ninetieth ($60,670) 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 $36,600 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 $31,949 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.