Crane and Tower Operators in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,784
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$19,146
23.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$62,778
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
$80,930
Kept after tax
$61,784
Worth in national money
$62,778
State rank
14
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for crane and tower operators is strong here. Minnesota's middle earner gets $80,930, putting the state 14 of 50 — about 18.87% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Minnesota, this sits in the middle: 142 of 490 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Minnesota costs about what the country costs, so from $80,930, take-home of $61,784 is worth roughly $62,778 in national money. The average comes to $85,490, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For crane and tower operators, Minnesota sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $80,930, ranking 14 of 50 and running about 18.87% 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.
- Crane and tower operators ranks 142 of 490 occupations in Minnesota by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Price parity in Minnesota is near the national base, so for crane and tower operators, whose median is $80,930, the adjusted figure of $62,778 differs little from $61,784 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $85,490 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Crane and Tower Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $52,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $80,930 |
| Top tenth earn over | $116,890 |
| This salary | $80,930 |
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 | $61,784 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,764 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,898 |
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 | $75,273 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,766 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $80,930 as a midpoint for Minnesota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $52,590 and the ninetieth is $116,890 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $61,784 take-home in Minnesota comes from $80,930. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 142 of 490.
- Two cautions on $62,778, the adjusted value of that $80,930 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 142 of 490 locally.
- The Minnesota median of $80,930 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $52,590 to $116,890. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $61,784, from $80,930, assumes a single Minnesota filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 142 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 14 of 50 for it.
- This $62,778 adjusted figure, worked from $80,930, 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 142 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 142 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $85,490 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $52,590 and the top tenth $116,890 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $62,778 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Minnesota then takes its own share, leaving $61,784.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $85,490. 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 ($52,590) and the ninetieth ($116,890) 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 $62,778 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 $61,784 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.