File Clerks in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,979
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$8,661
18.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,589
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
$46,640
Kept after tax
$37,979
Worth in national money
$38,589
State rank
8
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Minnesota pays file clerks a middle wage of $46,640, ranking 8 of 49 states and sitting about 6.97% above the national middle.
- Measured against other jobs in Minnesota, this one sits low: 397 of 490 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $46,640 the take-home is $37,979, which is worth about $38,589 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $48,620, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Minnesota's median for file clerks is $46,640, about 6.97% above the national figure and 8 of 49 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- File clerks occupies position 397 of 490 in Minnesota's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Minnesota's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for file clerks on its $46,640 median: $37,979 retained after tax becomes $38,589 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $48,620 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: File Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,640 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,840 |
| This salary | $46,640 |
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 | $37,979 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,655 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,219 |
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 | $44,553 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,683 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,640 as a midpoint for Minnesota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $39,250 and the ninetieth is $61,840 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $37,979 take-home in Minnesota comes from $46,640. 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 397 of 490.
- Two cautions on $38,589, the adjusted value of that $46,640 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 397 of 490 locally.
- The Minnesota median of $46,640 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $39,250 to $61,840. 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 $37,979, from $46,640, 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 397 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 8 of 49 for it.
- This $38,589 adjusted figure, worked from $46,640, 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 397 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 397 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 $48,620 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $39,250 at the tenth percentile, $61,840 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 $38,589 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 $37,979 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $48,620. 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 ($39,250 to $61,840) 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 $38,589 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 $37,979 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.