Graphic Designers in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,672
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$13,188
20.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,487
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
$63,860
Kept after tax
$50,672
Worth in national money
$51,487
State rank
14
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for graphic designers is strong here. Minnesota's middle earner gets $63,860, putting the state 14 of 51 — about 1.43% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Graphic designers ranks 244 among 490 occupations Minnesota publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $63,860 the take-home is $50,672, which is worth about $51,487 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $68,280, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For graphic designers, Minnesota sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $63,860, ranking 14 of 51 and running about 1.43% 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 244 of 490 in Minnesota places graphic designers 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.
- Minnesota's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for graphic designers on its $63,860 median: $50,672 retained after tax becomes $51,487 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $68,280 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Graphic Designers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,690 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $96,960 |
| This salary | $63,860 |
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 | $50,672 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,492 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,559 |
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 | $60,351 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,304 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $63,860 as a midpoint for Minnesota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $42,690 and the ninetieth is $96,960 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Minnesota the take-home figure of $50,672, from $63,860, 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 244 of 490 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $51,487, the adjusted value of that $63,860 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 244 of 490 locally.
- The Minnesota median of $63,860 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $42,690 to $96,960. 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 $50,672 from $63,860. 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 244 of 490 locally.
- This $51,487 adjusted figure, worked from $63,860, 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 244 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 244 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 $68,280 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 $42,690 and the top tenth $96,960 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Minnesota sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $51,487 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $50,672 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 $68,280. 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 ($42,690) and the ninetieth ($96,960) 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 $51,487 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 $50,672 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.