Missouri Paycheck Calculator
Estimate your Missouri take-home pay — federal tax, Missouri's progressive state income tax, Social Security, and Medicare all included.
Missouri payroll tax overview
Missouri uses a progressive income tax with a top rate of 4.8% — one of the lower top marginal rates among states with a progressive system. The lowest slice of income is taxed at 0%, and the rate has been gradually reduced over several years as part of a legislated tax-reduction plan.
Two Missouri cities — Kansas City and St. Louis — levy an additional 1% local earnings tax on income earned within city limits. This calculator estimates state-level tax only; residents or workers in either city should account for that additional local deduction separately.
Worked example
A single filer earning $75,000/year in Missouri (state tax only, no city earnings tax), paid biweekly:
| Item | Per paycheck | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $2,884.62 | $75,000.00 |
| Federal income tax | ≈ $313.00 | ≈ $8,140.00 |
| Social Security | $178.85 | $4,650.00 |
| Medicare | $41.83 | $1,087.50 |
| Missouri state tax | ≈ $130.48 | ≈ $3,392.36 |
| Net pay | ≈ $2,220.46 | ≈ $57,730.14 |
Local income context: how Missouri compares
According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, Missouri's median household income is $71,589 — below the 2024 national median of $81,604. Missouri's economy splits between the Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas — both home to significant corporate employers (Cerner/Oracle Health, Hallmark, and biotech in KC; Boeing defense operations and financial services in St. Louis) — and a lower-income rural interior that pulls the statewide median down.
Median household income reflects a full household (often two earners), while the calculator above estimates take-home pay for a single individual's salary — so it's a useful benchmark for context rather than a direct comparison, but it helps illustrate how a given salary stacks up against typical earnings in Missouri.
Frequently asked questions
How Missouri compares to other states
At a 4.8% top rate, Missouri sits toward the lower end among states with a progressive income tax system — meaningfully below neighboring states like Iowa historically and well below high-tax states like Minnesota. The Kansas City and St. Louis local earnings tax is a notable exception that pushes total tax burden slightly higher for residents and commuters in those two metro areas specifically.
Missouri cost-of-living context
Missouri's overall cost of living is below the national average, with housing costs particularly affordable outside the Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas. This combination of a relatively low tax burden and low cost of living means take-home pay tends to stretch considerably further in Missouri than in higher-cost, higher-tax states.
More frequently asked questions
Missouri minimum wage context
Missouri sets a statewide minimum wage with scheduled annual adjustments for inflation. No Missouri city currently sets its own higher local minimum wage, so the statewide rate applies uniformly if you're entering an hourly figure into this calculator.