Median pay · Missouri
$45,970A year, or $22 an hour.| Percentile | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile1 in 10 earn less | $36,580 | $18 |
| 25th percentile | $38,990 | $19 |
| MedianHalf earn more, half less | $45,970 | $22 |
| 75th percentile | $50,150 | $24 |
| 90th percentile1 in 10 earn more | $59,410 | $29 |
| MeanAll pay divided by all jobs | $46,790 | $22 |
Wage survey · BLS May 2025
How we got this
- Median wage in MissouriBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$45,970
- Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$22.10
- Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$3,159 a month at an effective rate of 17.5%.$37,912 a year
- Worth at national average pricesPrices in Missouri sit at 90.8 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$50,618
- Against the national medianThe national median is $48,070.4.4% below
- Jobs countedA concentration of 0.92 against the nation's 1.00.6,760
What we assumed
- Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
- OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
- Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
- Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details
Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1
What lands in the bank
Tax year 2026 · InteractiveEstimated on the median salary of $45,970 in Missouri, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.
Run the numbers on your own pay
Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.
What $45,970 is worth in Missouri
Prices in Missouri sit at 90.8 against a national average of 100, so $45,970 earned here buys what $50,618 buys at national average prices.
- Rents. 69.9 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
- Against local households. The median household in Missouri takes in $70,702, so this occupation's median is 0.65 times that, on one income.
- How common the job is here. 8% less concentrated in Missouri than in the country as a whole.
Reading the numbers
What stands out for dental assistants in Missouri
Rents in Missouri index at 69.9 (U.S. = 100) while prices overall index at 90.8, a gap of -20.9 pts. For a renter, housing moves the local cost of living more than anything else.
Prices in Missouri index at 90.8 (U.S. = 100), so the $45,970 median buys roughly what $50,618 would at national prices, $4,648 more.
The top of the pay range is stretched out. Going from the 75th to the 90th percentile adds $9,260, against $4,180 from the median to the 75th. The best-paid 10% of dental assistants in Missouri make $59,410 or more.
Pay is tightly grouped: the 90th percentile ($59,410) is only 1.6 times the 10th ($36,580), so most dental assistants here earn within a narrow band.
Common questions
Dental Assistant pay in Missouri, answered
How much does a dental assistant make in Missouri?
The median wage for dental assistants in Missouri is $45,970 a year, or $22.10 an hour.
Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.
What is the average dental assistant salary in Missouri?
BLS’s mean (average) wage for dental assistants in Missouri is $46,790 a year. The median is $45,970.
The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.
What is the hourly pay for a dental assistant in Missouri?
The median hourly wage is $22.10. At a full-time year that lines up with about $45,970 a year.
BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.
What is the starting salary for a dental assistant in Missouri?
BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Missouri, the lowest-paid 10% of dental assistants earn under $36,580 a year and a quarter earn under $38,990 ($17.59 and $18.75 an hour).
New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.
What is the salary range for a dental assistant in Missouri?
The overall salary range for dental assistants in Missouri spans from $36,580 for the bottom 10% to $59,410 for top earners.
The middle 50% earn between $38,990 and $50,150 a year, with the overall median at $45,970.
What is the take-home pay for a dental assistant in Missouri?
On the median wage of $45,970, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $37,912 a year, or roughly $3,159 a month.
That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 17.5%.
Missouri takes $1,205 of it in state income tax.
How much does a dental assistant make a month in Missouri?
On the median annual salary of $45,970, estimated take-home pay is roughly $3,159 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.
For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $1,458 net.
Do dental assistants earn more in Missouri than in the rest of the country?
No. The median in Missouri is 4.4% below the national median of $48,070.
Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Missouri sit at 90.8 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.
Is $45,970 a good salary in Missouri?
It is 0.65 times the median household income of $70,702. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.
Prices in Missouri run at 90.8 against a national average of 100, with rents at 69.9, so $45,970 here buys about what $50,618 buys at national average prices.
What do the highest-paid dental assistants earn in Missouri?
The top tenth earn $59,410 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $36,580.
Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Missouri someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.
How many dental assistants are there in Missouri?
The survey counted 6,760 of these jobs in Missouri for May 2025.
That makes the occupation 8% less concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.