Can a Quality Engineer afford to live in St. Louis?

Excellent46% of take-home left to save — you can save aggressively here.
Median salary (gross)
Quality Engineer · St. Louis
$73,601
Income tax (~25% effective)
United States
– $18,116
Take-home pay
$4,624/mo
$55,485
Living costs (1 person)
$2,490/mo · derived
– $29,880
Savings potential
$2,134/mo · 46% of take-home
$25,605

Single professional, after-tax. Salary − tax − living costs = what you could save each year.

Full salary breakdown →Is this a good salary in St. Louis? →Compare St. Louis with another city →

How we calculated this

• Salary: BLS OES median for Quality Engineer, adjusted for St. Louis.

• Tax: United States single-filer effective rate (~25%). Official calculator.

• Living costs: derived from cost-of-living index for a single professional.

Planning estimates, not financial or tax advice. Updated 2026. Your situation will differ.