Structural Iron and Steel Workers in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,587
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$16,823
21.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$66,026
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
$77,410
Kept after tax
$60,587
Worth in national money
$66,026
State rank
13
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Missouri pays structural iron and steel workers a middle wage of $77,410, ranking 13 of 50 states and sitting about 23.3% above the national middle.
- Within Missouri this is well-paid work. Of 488 occupations with published figures in the state, structural iron and steel workers ranks 114 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $77,410 you keep $60,587 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $66,026 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $71,910.
- Missouri's median for structural iron and steel workers is $77,410, about 23.3% above the national figure and 13 of 50 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Ranked against every occupation Missouri publishes a median for, structural iron and steel workers sits 114 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.
- Retained pay in Missouri is $60,587 after the full tax stack, from $77,410. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $66,026 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $71,910 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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: Structural Iron and Steel Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,410 |
| Top tenth earn over | $89,350 |
| This salary | $77,410 |
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 | $60,587 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,288 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$898 |
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 | $73,571 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,241 |
| 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 $77,410. The published range is $48,650 up to $89,350, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $60,587 take-home in Missouri comes from $77,410. 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 114 of 488.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $66,026 uses one figure for the whole of Missouri. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 488 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 114.
- Reported values are medians; for structural iron and steel workers in Missouri the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $48,650 to $89,350. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $60,587, from $77,410, 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 114 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 13 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $66,026, worked from $77,410, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Missouri address, on work sitting at 114 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 $71,910, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $48,650 and the top tenth $89,350, so most people doing this work in Missouri sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $66,026 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $60,587 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 $71,910. 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 ($48,650 to $89,350) 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 $66,026 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 $60,587 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.