Social Science Research Assistants in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,001
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$12,939
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,759
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
$65,940
Kept after tax
$53,001
Worth in national money
$57,759
State rank
6
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Missouri is one of the better-paying states for social science research assistants. The middle earner takes $65,940, which ranks 6 of 45 states with published figures. That is about 6.37% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Missouri, this sits in the middle: 159 of 488 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Missouri is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $65,940 the take-home is $53,001; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $57,759 would nationally. The average lands at $61,550, below the middle of the range.
- Missouri ranks 6 of 45 states publishing a median for social science research assistants, at $65,940 — about 6.37% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Social science research assistants ranks 159 of 488 occupations in Missouri 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.
- Post-tax income for social science research assistants in Missouri, on $65,940, is $53,001 — equivalent to $57,759 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $61,550 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Social Science Research Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $65,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,860 |
| This salary | $65,940 |
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 | $53,001 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,163 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$993 |
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 | $63,249 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,292 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
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 social science research assistants in Missouri earn under $65,940 and half over. The published range runs $39,250 at the tenth percentile to $79,860 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Missouri's $53,001, worked from $65,940. 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 159 of 488.
- Two cautions on $57,759, the adjusted value of that $65,940 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Missouri. 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 159 of 488 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for social science research assistants in Missouri, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $39,250 to $79,860; 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.
- The Missouri take-home of $53,001, on $65,940 for work ranking 159 of 488 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 159 of 488 in the state.
- This $57,759 adjusted figure, worked from $65,940, 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 159 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 159 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 $61,550, 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?
The range here is narrow. From $39,250 at the bottom tenth to $79,860 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $57,759.
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 Missouri's own levy, $53,001 remains.
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 45 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 Missouri is $61,550. 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 ($39,250 to $79,860) 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 $57,759 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 $53,001 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.
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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.