Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,843
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$16,957
21.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$66,305
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
$77,800
Kept after tax
$60,843
Worth in national money
$66,305
State rank
32
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Missouri pays this job a middle wage of $77,800, 32 of 46 states and about 7.7% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Missouri this is well-paid work. Of 488 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 111 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Missouri is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $77,800 the take-home is $60,843; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $66,305 would nationally. The average comes to $91,990, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Missouri's $77,800 median for sociology teachers, postsecondary places it 32 of 46 states, about 7.7% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Ranked against every occupation Missouri publishes a median for, sociology teachers, postsecondary sits 111 of 488 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Post-tax income for sociology teachers, postsecondary in Missouri, on $77,800, is $60,843 — equivalent to $66,305 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 $91,990 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,530 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,800 |
| Top tenth earn over | $169,070 |
| This salary | $77,800 |
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 | $60,843 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,562 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$895 |
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 | $73,935 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,236 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Missouri earn less than $77,800. The published range is $45,530 up to $169,070, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $60,843 take-home in Missouri comes from $77,800. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 111 of 488.
- Two cautions on $66,305, the adjusted value of that $77,800 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 111 of 488 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for sociology teachers, postsecondary in Missouri the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $45,530 to $169,070. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $60,843, from $77,800, assumes a single Missouri filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 111 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 32 of 46 for it.
- This $66,305 adjusted figure, worked from $77,800, 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 111 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 111 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $91,990, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $45,530 and the top tenth $169,070 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Missouri is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $66,305 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Missouri then takes its own share, leaving $60,843.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $91,990. 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 ($45,530) and the ninetieth ($169,070) 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 $66,305 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 $60,843 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.