Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,649
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$4,551
15.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$26,061
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
$30,200
Kept after tax
$25,649
Worth in national money
$26,061
State rank
23
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Minnesota pays this job around $30,200 at the midpoint, 23 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 490 occupations Minnesota publishes, this job lands at 487. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $30,200, tax leaves $25,649, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $26,061 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $31,620, since top earners drag the number up.
- For hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop the Minnesota median is $30,200, ranking 23 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Minnesota, this work ranks 487 of 490 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Because Minnesota sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop — median $30,200 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $25,649 retained, $26,061 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $31,620 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,000 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,200 |
| Top tenth earn over | $38,960 |
| This salary | $30,200 |
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 | $25,649 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,446 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,153 |
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 | $29,208 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,395 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Minnesota earn less than $30,200. The published range is $24,000 up to $38,960, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Minnesota the take-home figure of $25,649, from $30,200, 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 487 of 490 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $26,061 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 487.
- Reported values are medians; for hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop in Minnesota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $24,000 to $38,960. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Minnesota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $25,649 from $30,200. 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 487 of 490 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $26,061, worked from $30,200, 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 487 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 $31,620, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $24,000 at the bottom tenth to $38,960 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $26,061 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 $25,649.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $31,620. 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 ($24,000 to $38,960) 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 $26,061 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 $25,649 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.