Pharmacist Salary in Mississippi 2026,
$133,230 Median | BLS Data by City

A median $133,230 a year, or $64.05 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with the middle half between $127,080 and $147,820 and a full range of $97,260 to $158,230. That is 5.5% below the $140,910 national median, and Mississippi's low living costs and income tax more than close that gap in real terms.

Gulfport-Biloxi at $137,940, ahead of Jackson at $132,080 and Hattiesburg at $128,980. The nearly nine-thousand-dollar gap between the coast and Hattiesburg reflects a coastal economy — casinos, shipbuilding, military — that competes for staff across every occupation in this unit.

Through the Mississippi Board of Pharmacy. You need a PharmD from an ACPE-accredited programme, the required internship hours, a passing NAPLEX score and the Mississippi MPJE jurisprudence examination. The board licenses pharmacies as well as pharmacists and administers the collaborative practice and immunisation authority provisions that determine what you may provide without an individual prescription.

More so than in most states. Independent community pharmacy retains a substantial share of the Mississippi market, particularly across the Delta and the rural counties where chain coverage is thin, and succession opportunities arise regularly. Ownership income sits entirely outside a wage series, so it does not appear anywhere in this band — for a pharmacist prepared to take business risk, it is the genuine ceiling in this state, and the $158,230 ninetieth percentile understates it.

Hours rather than rate. It sits nearly thirty thousand dollars below the 25th percentile of $127,080 — a step much larger than any other in the band, and the standard signature of part-time, relief and float pharmacists appearing in an annual wage series. A full-time Mississippi staff pharmacist should read the $127,080 to $147,820 range as the realistic market.

Further than in almost any state in this batch. Mississippi's housing costs are among the lowest in the United States, its income tax is phasing toward a flat 4% with no local layer, and its property taxes are low. A pharmacist earning the state median here retains and can spend more than one earning the national median in most high-cost states. The 7% sales tax is the honest offset but is a small share of a six-figure income. The genuine non-financial caveats are a rural practice environment where sole-pharmacist coverage and long hours are common, and a patient population with among the highest chronic disease burdens in the country.

It blends community retail, hospital and health-system practice under one occupation code, which differ in hours, call and bonus structure. It excludes retail bonus arrangements and the sign-on packages rural Mississippi employers use, and — most significantly in this state — it excludes ownership income entirely, since independent pharmacy remains a substantial share of the market and an owner's earnings are not wages. The published tenth percentile is a part-time artefact rather than a full-time salary.

Management first — pharmacy manager roles are the standard step from the median toward the $147,820 seventy-fifth percentile. Board certification such as BCPS, BCOP or BCACP is what health-system practice at the University of Mississippi Medical Center pays for. Taking a hard-to-staff rural post carries real recruitment premiums. Geography contributes nearly nine thousand dollars between Gulfport-Biloxi and Hattiesburg. And in Mississippi more than most states, ownership is the real answer for those who want it — buying into or succeeding an independent pharmacy moves you out of the wage distribution altogether.