Cost Estimators in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,708
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$19,102
23.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$62,701
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
$80,810
Kept after tax
$61,708
Worth in national money
$62,701
State rank
14
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for cost estimators is strong here. Minnesota's middle earner gets $80,810, putting the state 14 of 51 — about 2.63% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Cost estimators ranks 143 among 490 occupations Minnesota publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $80,810, tax leaves $61,708, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $62,701 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $85,290, since top earners drag the number up.
- For cost estimators, Minnesota sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $80,810, ranking 14 of 51 and running about 2.63% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Position 143 of 490 in Minnesota places cost estimators 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 cost estimators — median $80,810 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $61,708 retained, $62,701 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $85,290 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Cost Estimators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $56,640 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $80,810 |
| Top tenth earn over | $125,370 |
| This salary | $80,810 |
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 | $61,708 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,680 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,889 |
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 | $75,164 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,753 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $80,810 as a midpoint for Minnesota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $56,640 and the ninetieth is $125,370 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Minnesota the take-home figure of $61,708, from $80,810, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 143 of 490 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $62,701, the adjusted value of that $80,810 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Minnesota. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 143 of 490 locally.
- The Minnesota median of $80,810 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $56,640 to $125,370. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Minnesota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $61,708 from $80,810. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 143 of 490 locally.
- This $62,701 adjusted figure, worked from $80,810, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 143 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 143 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $85,290, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $56,640 at the bottom tenth to $125,370 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $62,701 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Minnesota's own levy, $61,708 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $85,290. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($56,640) and the ninetieth ($125,370) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $62,701 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 $61,708 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.