Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,830
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$14,010
21.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,680
Minnesota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Minnesota — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$66,840
Kept after tax
$52,830
Worth in national money
$53,680
State rank
14
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Minnesota pays this job a middle wage of $66,840, ranking 14 of 51 states and sitting about 8.21% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 230 among 490 occupations Minnesota publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $66,840, tax leaves $52,830, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $53,680 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $69,320, since top earners drag the number up.
- Minnesota's median for bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists is $66,840, about 8.21% above the national figure and 14 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 230 of 490 in Minnesota places bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Because Minnesota sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists — median $66,840 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $52,830 retained, $53,680 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $69,320 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,810 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $66,840 |
| Top tenth earn over | $90,520 |
| This salary | $66,840 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Minnesota | $52,830 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,852 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,796 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $63,037 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,633 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Minnesota earn less than $66,840. The published range is $49,810 up to $90,520, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Minnesota's $52,830, worked from $66,840. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 230 of 490.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $53,680 uses one figure for the whole of Minnesota. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 490 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 230.
- Reported values are medians; for bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists in Minnesota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $49,810 to $90,520. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Minnesota take-home of $52,830, on $66,840 for work ranking 230 of 490 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 230 of 490 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $53,680, worked from $66,840, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Minnesota address, on work sitting at 230 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $69,320, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $49,810 at the tenth percentile, $90,520 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Minnesota is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $53,680 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Minnesota adds its own income tax on top — which is why $52,830 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Minnesota is $69,320. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($49,810 to $90,520) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Minnesota rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Minnesota's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $53,680 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $52,830 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Minnesota income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.