Veterinarians in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$85,042
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$29,618
25.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$92,676
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
$114,660
Kept after tax
$85,042
Worth in national money
$92,676
State rank
37
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Missouri pays veterinarians a middle wage of $114,660, 37 of 49 states and about 11.87% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Missouri. It ranks 27 out of 488 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $114,660 you keep $85,042, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $92,676 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $125,720, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Missouri's $114,660 median for veterinarians places it 37 of 49 states, about 11.87% 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.
- Within Missouri, veterinarians ranks 27 of 488 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- After federal, FICA and Missouri income tax, retained pay for veterinarians on $114,660 is $85,042. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $92,676 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $125,720 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Veterinarians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $61,270 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $114,660 |
| Top tenth earn over | $193,860 |
| This salary | $114,660 |
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 | $85,042 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $89,493 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$581 |
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 | $108,332 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$803 |
| 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 veterinarians in Missouri earn under $114,660 and half over. The published range runs $61,270 at the tenth percentile to $193,860 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $85,042 take-home in Missouri comes from $114,660. 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 27 of 488.
- Two cautions on $92,676, the adjusted value of that $114,660 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 27 of 488 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for veterinarians in Missouri, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $61,270 to $193,860; 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 $85,042, from $114,660, 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 27 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 37 of 49 for it.
- This $92,676 adjusted figure, worked from $114,660, 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 27 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 27 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 $125,720, 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $61,270, the highest tenth $193,860, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $92,676.
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 $85,042 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 49 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 $125,720. 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 ($61,270) and the ninetieth ($193,860) 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 $92,676 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 $85,042 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.