Interpreters and Translators in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,548
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$13,862
20.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,393
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
$66,410
Kept after tax
$52,548
Worth in national money
$53,393
State rank
9
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for interpreters and translators is strong here. Minnesota's middle earner gets $66,410, putting the state 9 of 47 — about 10.37% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Minnesota, this sits in the middle: 234 of 490 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Minnesota costs about what the country costs, so from $66,410, take-home of $52,548 is worth roughly $53,393 in national money. The average comes to $71,800, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For interpreters and translators, Minnesota sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $66,410, ranking 9 of 47 and running about 10.37% 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.
- Interpreters and translators ranks 234 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.
- Price parity in Minnesota is near the national base, so for interpreters and translators, whose median is $66,410, the adjusted figure of $53,393 differs little from $52,548 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $71,800 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Interpreters and Translators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $52,290 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $66,410 |
| Top tenth earn over | $91,150 |
| This salary | $66,410 |
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 | $52,548 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,540 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,762 |
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 | $62,686 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,550 |
| 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 $66,410. The published range is $52,290 up to $91,150, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $52,548 take-home in Minnesota comes from $66,410. 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 234 of 490.
- Two cautions on $53,393, the adjusted value of that $66,410 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 234 of 490 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for interpreters and translators in Minnesota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $52,290 to $91,150. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $52,548, from $66,410, 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 234 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 9 of 47 for it.
- This $53,393 adjusted figure, worked from $66,410, 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 234 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 234 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $71,800, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $52,290 at the tenth percentile, $91,150 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 $53,393 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 $52,548.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 47 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $71,800. 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 ($52,290 to $91,150) 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 $53,393 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 $52,548 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.