Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary Salary

Yes — at the median salary of $76K, rent takes 22.3% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,097/month. That stays under the 30% guideline most financial planners use.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondaries typically earn — is $47K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,804/month. At HUD’s $1,097/month FMR, rent would take 39% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Pay here is roughly in line with the national average — $76K locally vs. $79K nationally, a 3% difference.

Missouri pays $76K median vs. the U.S. average of $79K — that’s -3%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 88.97), the purchasing-power equivalent is $85K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $75,960 a year. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $46,730, and experienced art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondaries can clear $126,520. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $4,916/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,097/month, which eats 22.3% of your paycheck. That's under the 30% guideline most financial planners use, so the numbers work.

Missouri has a Regional Price Parity of 88.97 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary salary is worth about $85,377 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.