Curators in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$43,362
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$10,558
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,059
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
$53,920
Kept after tax
$43,362
Worth in national money
$44,059
State rank
42
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Minnesota pays curators a middle wage of $53,920, 42 of 49 states and about 14.98% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Minnesota, this sits in the middle: 327 of 490 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $53,920 the take-home is $43,362, which is worth about $44,059 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $58,960, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Minnesota's $53,920 median for curators places it 42 of 49 states, about 14.98% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Curators ranks 327 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.
- Minnesota's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for curators on its $53,920 median: $43,362 retained after tax becomes $44,059 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $58,960 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Curators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,280 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $53,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $90,670 |
| This salary | $53,920 |
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 | $43,362 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $45,505 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,769 |
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 | $51,253 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,348 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of curators in Minnesota earn under $53,920 and half over. The published range runs $33,280 at the tenth percentile to $90,670 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $43,362 take-home in Minnesota comes from $53,920. 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 327 of 490.
- Two cautions on $44,059, the adjusted value of that $53,920 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 327 of 490 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for curators in Minnesota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $33,280 to $90,670; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $43,362, from $53,920, 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 327 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 42 of 49 for it.
- This $44,059 adjusted figure, worked from $53,920, 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 327 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 327 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 $58,960 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $33,280, the highest tenth $90,670, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $44,059 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 $43,362.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $58,960. 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 ($33,280) and the ninetieth ($90,670) 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 $44,059 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 $43,362 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.