Special Education Teachers, Secondary School in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,421
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$10,499
18.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,498
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
$55,920
Kept after tax
$45,421
Worth in national money
$49,498
State rank
48
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Missouri is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $55,920, ranking 48 of 51 states — about 24.7% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 257 among 488 occupations Missouri publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $55,920 you keep $45,421 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $49,498 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $56,900, since top earners drag the number up.
- Missouri ranks 48 of 51 for special education teachers, secondary school, with a median of $55,920 — about 24.7% 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.
- Position 257 of 488 in Missouri places special education teachers, secondary school in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in Missouri is $45,421 after the full tax stack, from $55,920. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $49,498 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $56,900 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Special Education Teachers, Secondary School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,010 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,930 |
| This salary | $55,920 |
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 | $45,421 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,112 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,017 |
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 | $53,816 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,230 |
| 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 $55,920. The published range is $43,010 up to $76,930, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Missouri's $45,421, worked from $55,920. 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 257 of 488.
- Two cautions on $49,498, the adjusted value of that $55,920 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 257 of 488 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for special education teachers, secondary school in Missouri the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $43,010 to $76,930. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Missouri take-home of $45,421, on $55,920 for work ranking 257 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 257 of 488 in the state.
- This $49,498 adjusted figure, worked from $55,920, 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 257 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 257 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $43,010 at the tenth percentile, $76,930 at the ninetieth.
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 $49,498 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 $45,421 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($43,010 to $76,930) 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 $49,498 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 $45,421 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.
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.