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Short answer: this one holds up. Here's the whole picture, not the headline number.
That's what a $200,000 St. Louis salary is actually worth, after federal tax, Social Security and Medicare, Missouri income tax, and local prices that run 4.9% below the national average. Missouri takes $8,463 of it.
St. Louis runs 4.9% under the national average, which is the sort of gap nobody brags about and everybody feels at the end of the month.
So let's do the whole thing.
Start with the headline number and subtract reality. Single filer, standard deduction, 2026 brackets:
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross salary | $200,000 |
| Federal income tax | −$36,734 |
| Social Security and Medicare | −$14,339 |
| Missouri state income tax | −$8,463 |
| Take-home pay | $140,464 |
| Adjusted for St. Louis prices (4.9% below average) | $147,702 |
That last row is the one that matters and it's the one nobody shows you. Your $140,464 spends like $147,702 would somewhere average. The federal government scores every metro against a national average of 100, and St. Louis scores 95.1. St. Louis hands you back roughly $7,200 a year of purchasing power you would not have somewhere average.
Nobody negotiates against state tax. Everybody pays it.
Missouri takes about $8,463 of this salary, an effective rate of 4.2% once brackets and deductions shake out.
That's on top of federal. Together with FICA it's why your monthly deposit looks nothing like the annual figure you negotiated.
Everything above assumes a single filer, which is the common case for "is this salary any good" and the wrong one for plenty of readers. If $200,000 is a household's income and you file jointly, the federal picture changes a lot: the standard deduction doubles and every bracket widens, so federal tax falls from $36,734 to $26,340. That is $10,394 a year back in your pocket.
| Line | Single | Filing jointly |
|---|---|---|
| Federal income tax | $36,734 | $26,340 |
| Social Security and Medicare | $14,339 | $14,339 |
| Take-home pay, at least | $140,464 | $150,858 |
| Same buying power as | $147,702 | $158,631 |
One caveat on that joint column, and it runs in your favour. We hold Missouri tax at the single-filer figure, because state schedules for joint filers vary and we would rather understate the benefit than guess at it. Most states widen their brackets for joint filers too, so your real joint take-home is likely a little higher than the number above, not lower.
The cheapness here is concentrated where it counts. Housing in St. Louis runs 21% below the national average, against goods at 0% above.
Housing is the biggest line in most budgets, so a discount there is worth more than the headline figure suggests. This is the kind of place where a middling salary buys space.
Utilities are a genuine bright spot, running 30% below the national average.
A one-bedroom at St. Louis's fair market rent runs $995 a month, $1,218 for a two-bedroom. Against take-home of $11,705 a month, the one-bedroom eats 9% of it.
That's comfortably inside the 30% rule with room to spare, which leaves $10,710 a month for everything else. This is the range where saving happens without thinking about it.
St. Louis has bounced between 91 and 97 over 2008 to 2024 without settling into a direction.
Which is a reminder that this index moves. A figure quoted confidently from any single year, including this one, is a snapshot rather than a trend.
For what it's worth, St. Louis has not been more expensive than the national average in a single year of this series.
Flip it around. To match what $200,000 buys at the national average, St. Louis only needs to pay you $190,200.
So the same salary stretches further here than the number suggests. Worth knowing if you ever do end up negotiating.
| Metro | Price level100 = US avg | State tax | Real value |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis, MO | 95.1 | 4.2% | $147,702 |
| Oklahoma City, OK | 90.4 | 4.2% | $155,390 |
| San Antonio, TX | 94.7 | None | $157,262 |
| Atlanta, GA | 100.1 | 4.6% | $139,556 |
Your salary, your two cities, real federal price data. Takes about fifteen seconds.
Compare my citiesYes, and with room. After tax and St. Louis prices you're holding $147,702 of real purchasing power, which is well clear of what most of the country lives on.
And St. Louis prices are working for you rather than against you, worth about $7,200 a year on top.
After tax you keep about $140,464, which is roughly $11,705 a month. Against St. Louis's price level of 95.1, where 100 is the national average, that spends like $147,702 would somewhere average. Comfortable for one person, workable for two, tighter than the headline number suggests once there are children involved.
About $190,200, matching St. Louis's price level of 95.1 against the national average of 100. If you're moving from a specific city rather than the national average, run both through the calculator, because the answer moves a lot.
About $8,463 on a $200,000 salary, an effective rate of 4.2% once the state's brackets and deductions are applied. That's separate from federal tax and FICA.
Price levels are Regional Price Parities from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, the federal government's official measure of geographic price differences. Tax figures are 2026 federal brackets and Missouri state rates. We show the data vintage on every page so you know exactly how current the figures are.