What Nursing Assistants earn in Ray County, MO
According to the latest federal wage data for the Kansas City, MO-KS metropolitan area, the median pay for Nursing Assistants in Ray County, MO is $39,710 a year, or $19.09 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $33,050 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Ray County, MO.
The mean wage is $42,000, which is 5.8% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 13,370 people working in this occupation across the Kansas City, MO-KS metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Ray County, MO has roughly 23,145 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Nursing Assistants in the Kansas City, MO-KS metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $36,510 a year ($17.55 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $48,130 or more ($23.14 an hour). That is a gap of $11,620 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $37,730 at the 25th percentile and $45,630 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.3 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Nursing Assistants in Ray County, MO is $19.09. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $39,710, and the same salary is $3,309 a month before taxes or about $1,527 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $15.89 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Nursing Assistants
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Nursing Assistants this way: "Provide or assist with basic care or support under the direction of onsite licensed nursing staff. Perform duties such as monitoring of health status, feeding, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, or ambulation of patients in a health or nursing facility. May include medication administration and other health-related tasks. Includes nursing care attendants, nursing aides, and nursing attendants."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Answer patient call signals, signal lights, bells, or intercom systems to determine patients' needs"; "Assist nurses or physicians in the operation of medical equipment or provision of patient care"; "Change bed linens or make beds"; "Clean and sanitize patient rooms, bathrooms, examination rooms, or other patient areas".
Job outlook for Nursing Assistants
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 1,505,900 jobs in 2025 to 1,544,900 in 2035, a change of +2.6%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 196,200 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 13.0% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: postsecondary nondegree award. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $42,260 for this occupation; the Ray County, MO median of $39,710 is 6.0% below it.
How pay in Ray County, MO compares
Compared with the Missouri average
Ray County, MO pays above the state benchmark. The Missouri employment-weighted average for Nursing Assistants is $38,372; the local median of $39,710 beats it by $1,338, or 3.5%. Within Missouri, Ray County, MO already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Nursing Assistants is $41,828 across the contiguous United States. At $39,710, Ray County, MO pays $2,118 less, which is 5.1% below that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Ray County, MO
Among the 550 occupations with published wages in Ray County, MO, Nursing Assistants ranks number 468 by median pay, ahead of about 15% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Software Developers at $124,990 a year, which is $85,280 more than the median for Nursing Assistants.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $39,710 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $6,660 a year, which leaves $33,050, or $2,754 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $17 goes to taxes and $83 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 16.8%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $23,960. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $2,637, an effective 6.6% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $2,462 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $576. FICA totals $3,038, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Missouri
Missouri income tax on this salary is $985 a year, or 2.5% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 37% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $82 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Ray County, MO
IRS Statistics of Income data for Ray County, MO show an average adjusted gross income of $71,219 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 10.1% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.8%, compared with the 6.6% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Ray County, MO
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Ray County, MO: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $33,050 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Ray County, MO is $1,366 a month, or $16,392 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,546 a month. For Nursing Assistants, a one-bedroom absorbs 49.6% of take-home pay and 41.3% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 8.7% of gross pay for Nursing Assistants in Ray County, MO. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Missouri residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,364 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $672, for $2,036 in total. Gasoline in Missouri averages $3.03 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,403.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $23,267 a year, 70% of take-home pay. That leaves $9,783 a year, or $815 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 24.6% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Ray County, MO
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Ray County, MO: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Ray County, MO, set beside the Missouri and national medians.
Property taxes in Ray County, MO
Homeowners in Ray County, MO pay a median of $1,594 a year in real estate taxes, 18% below the Missouri median of $1,948 and 49% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $198,800, the median tax bill is 0.80% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Nursing Assistants median of $39,710, a tax bill of that size would equal 4.0% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Ray County, MO
Renters in Ray County, MO pay a median gross rent of $782 a month in the Census survey, 24% below the Missouri median of $1,033. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,366 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $198,800, 14% below the Missouri median of $230,300. Median household income is $74,573, 5% above the Missouri median of $70,702, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 22.0% of that income.
Commuting in Ray County, MO
Workers in Ray County, MO who travel to a workplace spend an average of 34.3 minutes each way, 46% above the Missouri average of 23.5. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.7 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 10.6% of workers in Ray County, MO work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Nursing Assistants afford to live in Ray County, MO?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $39,710 that ceiling is $993 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,366 is $373 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $26.27 an hour; the median for Nursing Assistants is $19.09, which is 27% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $15.89 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 19.8 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,546 a month means $773 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,116 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $16,899.
How fast you can save
At $815 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 13 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 26 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Nursing Assistants pay in Ray County, MO
What is the hourly wage for Nursing Assistants in Ray County, MO?
The median is $19.09 per hour, based on $39,710 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $17.55 at the 10th percentile to $23.14 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Nursing Assistants in Ray County, MO?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $39,710 becomes $33,050 a year. That is $2,754 a month, $1,271 every two weeks or $636 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Nursing Assistants in Ray County, MO?
Total taxes are $6,660 a year, an effective rate of 16.8%: $2,637 federal income tax, $3,038 FICA and $985 Missouri income tax.
Is pay for Nursing Assistants in Ray County, MO above the Missouri average?
Yes. The local median of $39,710 is +3.5% versus the Missouri average of $38,372, a difference of $1,338 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Nursing Assistants salary in Ray County, MO?
A one-bedroom costs $1,366 a month against take-home pay of $2,754, which is 49.6% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $993 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Nursing Assistants in Ray County, MO?
About $815 a month ($9,783 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $23,267 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Ray County, MO at the 30% guideline?
$26.27 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $16,392 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Nursing Assistants is $19.09.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Kansas City, MO-KS metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Missouri rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.