Skip to content

An independent salary reference. Not affiliated with BLS or any U.S. government agency.

Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Drywall And Ceiling Tile Installers Salary: Missouri vs Massachusetts

Drywall And Ceiling Tile Installers earn a median of $59,050 in Missouri and $67,390 in Massachusetts. That is a nominal gap of $8,340 (-12.4%), with Massachusetts paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$59,050
Missouri median
$65,021 after COL
$67,390
Massachusetts median
$63,722 after COL
-12.4%
Nominal gap
Massachusetts leads
+2.0%
Adjusted gap
Missouri leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Massachusetts pays $8,340 more per year than Missouri for drywall and ceiling tile installers, a gap of +12.4%.

After adjusting for cost of living, the picture flips. Missouri actually offers more purchasing power, effectively paying $1,299 more in national-price-level terms (a +2.0% real gap). The higher nominal wage in the other location is eaten up by higher local prices.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for drywall and ceiling tile installers in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Drywall And Ceiling Tile Installers

Missouri

Median salary
$59,050
Mean salary
$62,540
Employment
480
Location quotient
0.31
Jobs per 1,000
0.2
COL-adjusted median
$65,021
Regional Price Parity
90.8%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Drywall And Ceiling Tile Installers page for Missouri →

Drywall And Ceiling Tile Installers

Massachusetts

Median salary
$67,390
Mean salary
$63,510
Employment
890
Location quotient
0.45
Jobs per 1,000
0.2
COL-adjusted median
$63,722
Regional Price Parity
105.8%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Drywall And Ceiling Tile Installers page for Massachusetts →

Related pages

Keep digging into drywall and ceiling tile installers from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a state specializes in.