Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,418
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$9,533
18.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,226
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
$51,950
Kept after tax
$42,418
Worth in national money
$46,226
State rank
32
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Missouri is 32 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $51,950. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Missouri, this sits in the middle: 268 of 488 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $51,950 you keep $42,418, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $46,226 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $55,470, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Missouri ranks 32 of 51 for welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers at $51,950. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers ranks 268 of 488 occupations in Missouri by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and Missouri income tax, retained pay for welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers on $51,950 is $42,418. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $46,226 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 $55,470 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $51,950 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,150 |
| This salary | $51,950 |
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 | $42,418 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,922 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,027 |
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 | $50,078 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,242 |
| 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 $51,950. The published range is $38,200 up to $78,150, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Missouri the take-home figure of $42,418, from $51,950, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 268 of 488 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $46,226 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 268.
- Reported values are medians; for welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers in Missouri the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $38,200 to $78,150. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Missouri is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $42,418 from $51,950. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 268 of 488 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $46,226, worked from $51,950, 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 268 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $55,470 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $38,200 and the top tenth $78,150 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $46,226 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 $42,418 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.
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 $55,470. 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 ($38,200) and the ninetieth ($78,150) 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 $46,226 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 $42,418 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.