Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,874
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$17,476
22.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,821
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
$76,350
Kept after tax
$58,874
Worth in national money
$59,821
State rank
6
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Minnesota's middle earner gets $76,350, putting the state 6 of 51 — about 25.14% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 490 occupations Minnesota reports figures for, this is number 193.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $76,350, tax leaves $58,874, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $59,821 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $73,990.
- For heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers, Minnesota sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $76,350, ranking 6 of 51 and running about 25.14% 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.
- In Minnesota's occupational distribution, heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers sits at 193 of 490 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Because Minnesota sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers — median $76,350 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $58,874 retained, $59,821 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $73,990 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,220 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,350 |
| Top tenth earn over | $100,030 |
| This salary | $76,350 |
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 | $58,874 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,542 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,540 |
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 | $71,135 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,271 |
| 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 heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers in Minnesota earn under $76,350 and half over. The published range runs $48,220 at the tenth percentile to $100,030 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Minnesota's $58,874, worked from $76,350. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 193 of 490.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $59,821 uses one figure for the whole of Minnesota. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 490 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 193.
- Figures are distribution medians for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers in Minnesota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $48,220 to $100,030; 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.
- The Minnesota take-home of $58,874, on $76,350 for work ranking 193 of 490 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 193 of 490 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $59,821, worked from $76,350, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Minnesota address, on work sitting at 193 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 $73,990, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $48,220 and the top tenth $100,030, so most people doing this work in Minnesota sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $59,821.
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 $58,874 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $73,990. 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 ($48,220 to $100,030) 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 $59,821 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 $58,874 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.