Tutors in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$27,530
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$4,740
14.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,001
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
$32,270
Kept after tax
$27,530
Worth in national money
$30,001
State rank
48
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Missouri pays tutors a middle wage of $32,270, 48 of 50 states and about 25.56% 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, tutors ranks 467. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $32,270 you keep $27,530 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $30,001 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $38,370, since top earners drag the number up.
- Missouri's $32,270 median for tutors places it 48 of 50 states, about 25.56% 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, tutors ranks 467 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 $27,530 after the full tax stack, from $32,270. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $30,001 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $38,370 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Tutors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $32,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,960 |
| This salary | $32,270 |
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 | $27,530 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $28,109 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,075 |
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 | $31,549 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,300 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $32,270 as a midpoint for Missouri, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $28,600 and the ninetieth is $59,960 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Missouri's $27,530, worked from $32,270. 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 467 of 488.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $30,001 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 467.
- The Missouri median of $32,270 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $28,600 to $59,960. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Missouri take-home of $27,530, on $32,270 for work ranking 467 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 467 of 488 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $30,001, worked from $32,270, 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 467 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $38,370, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $28,600 and the top tenth $59,960 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $30,001.
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 $27,530 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 50 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 $38,370. 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 ($28,600) and the ninetieth ($59,960) 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 $30,001 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 $27,530 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.