Accountant salary in the Southwest Missouri nonmetro area

Pay in the Southwest Missouri nonmetro area against Missouri and the US

The middle half of accountants in the Southwest Missouri nonmetro area earns $50,270–$78,860. The top tenth earns $104,640 or more, 2.4 times the bottom tenth, close to the US pattern of 2.6 times. The mean ($70,040) is 12% over the median, so a group of high earners pulls the average up; price a typical hire from the median. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $28,590 wide, against $39,210 across Missouri and $42,790 nationally: employers in the Southwest Missouri nonmetro area pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for an accountant here

The step from the 25th percentile to the median is $12,220 a year; from the median to the 75th it is $16,370, or about $21,123 once benefits are added. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $83,680 falls between the 75th and 90th percentiles in the Southwest Missouri nonmetro area, and the Missouri statewide median of $76,590 falls between the median and the 75th percentile. An offer at the national rate would beat what three quarters of local accountants earn.

What a hire really costs in the Southwest Missouri nonmetro area

Pay is only part of it. Benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², which adds about $18,142 to the $62,490 median and brings it to $80,632 a year. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for accountants we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in the Southwest Missouri nonmetro area

Of the 16 roles we track in the Southwest Missouri nonmetro area, this one ranks #2 by median pay, after project coordinators ($74,970); recruiters come next at $56,140.

Measured against the US median, accountants rank #9 of the 16 roles we track in the Southwest Missouri nonmetro area (-25.3%), between payroll specialists (-24.2%) and recruiters (-26.1%). The typical role here is at -24.7%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Accountants hold 7.4% of the jobs in these 16 roles in the Southwest Missouri nonmetro area, 10.1% across Missouri and 9.2% nationally. The job is a smaller part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Missouri

Across the 12 areas of Missouri with data for this job, the median runs from $62,490 in the Southwest Missouri nonmetro area to $80,040 in Kansas City, a gap of $17,550 a year. All 9 areas in Missouri with more accountants than the Southwest Missouri nonmetro area also pay more, among them St. Louis, MO-IL ($78,880) and Kansas City, MO-KS ($80,040).

the Southwest Missouri nonmetro area against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, the Southwest Missouri nonmetro area is #415 of 521 US areas for this job. It is a small market, and its pay is in the bottom quarter of US areas. Outside Missouri, Fort Smith and Terre Haute pay just above the Southwest Missouri nonmetro area and Tallahassee and Hot Springs just below. Of the three markets with about as many accountants, all three pay more.

Questions

Sources

How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.