Social Scientists and Related Workers, All Other in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,845
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$18,005
22.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,487
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
$80,850
Kept after tax
$62,845
Worth in national money
$68,487
State rank
44
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Missouri. The middle earner gets $80,850. That is 44 of 49 states, and about 20.04% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 488 occupations Missouri reports, this job comes in at 98 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $80,850 you keep $62,845 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $68,487 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $83,460, since top earners drag the number up.
- For social scientists and related workers, all other, Missouri sits in the lower band at $80,850, ranking 44 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 20.04%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Social scientists and related workers, all other ranks 98 of 488 occupations by median in Missouri, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Retained pay in Missouri is $62,845 after the full tax stack, from $80,850. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $68,487 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $83,460 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Social Scientists and Related Workers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $53,850 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $80,850 |
| Top tenth earn over | $112,070 |
| This salary | $80,850 |
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 | $62,845 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,708 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$869 |
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 | $76,781 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,201 |
| 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 scientists and related workers, all other in Missouri earn under $80,850 and half over. The published range runs $53,850 at the tenth percentile to $112,070 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 $62,845, worked from $80,850. 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 98 of 488.
- Two cautions on $68,487, the adjusted value of that $80,850 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 98 of 488 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for social scientists and related workers, all other in Missouri, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $53,850 to $112,070; 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 $62,845, on $80,850 for work ranking 98 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 98 of 488 in the state.
- This $68,487 adjusted figure, worked from $80,850, 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 98 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 98 of 488 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 $83,460 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $53,850 at the bottom tenth to $112,070 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Missouri sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $68,487 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 Missouri adds its own income tax on top — which is why $62,845 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $83,460. 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 ($53,850) and the ninetieth ($112,070) 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?
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 $68,487 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 $62,845 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.