Substitute Teachers, Short-Term in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,436
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$5,354
15.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,079
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
$34,790
Kept after tax
$29,436
Worth in national money
$32,079
State rank
36
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Missouri pays substitute teachers, short-term a middle wage of $34,790, 36 of 50 states and about 16.51% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Missouri this is lower-paid work. Of 488 occupations the state publishes figures for, substitute teachers, short-term ranks 446. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $34,790 you keep $29,436 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $32,079 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $39,250, since top earners drag the number up.
- Missouri's $34,790 median for substitute teachers, short-term places it 36 of 50 states, about 16.51% 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.
- Against every occupation Missouri reports, substitute teachers, short-term ranks 446 of 488, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in Missouri is $29,436 after the full tax stack, from $34,790. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $32,079 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $39,250 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Substitute Teachers, Short-Term
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,220 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,790 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,850 |
| This salary | $34,790 |
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 | $29,436 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,134 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,069 |
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 | $33,922 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,293 |
| 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 substitute teachers, short-term in Missouri earn under $34,790 and half over. The published range runs $29,220 at the tenth percentile to $49,850 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $29,436 take-home in Missouri comes from $34,790. 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 446 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of Missouri, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $32,079, the adjusted value of that $34,790 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 446 of 488 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for substitute teachers, short-term in Missouri, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $29,220 to $49,850; 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.
- Retained pay of $29,436, from $34,790, 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 446 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 36 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Missouri, so $32,079 — the adjusted value of that $34,790 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 446 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 $39,250, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $29,220 at the bottom tenth to $49,850 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $32,079 in national terms.
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 $29,436 of this wage survives to your account.
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 50 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 $39,250. 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 ($29,220 to $49,850) 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 $32,079 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 $29,436 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.