Massage Therapists in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,091
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$12,979
20.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,897
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
$63,070
Kept after tax
$50,091
Worth in national money
$50,897
State rank
12
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Minnesota pays massage therapists a middle wage of $63,070, ranking 12 of 50 states and sitting about 7.9% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Massage therapists ranks 252 among 490 occupations Minnesota publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $63,070 the take-home is $50,091, which is worth about $50,897 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $69,720, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Minnesota's median for massage therapists is $63,070, about 7.9% above the national figure and 12 of 50 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 252 of 490 in Minnesota places massage therapists 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 massage therapists on its $63,070 median: $50,091 retained after tax becomes $50,897 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $69,720 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Massage Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,320 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,070 |
| Top tenth earn over | $97,870 |
| This salary | $63,070 |
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 | $50,091 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,857 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,496 |
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 | $59,628 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,228 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $63,070 as a midpoint for Minnesota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $28,320 and the ninetieth is $97,870 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Minnesota the take-home figure of $50,091, from $63,070, 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 252 of 490 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $50,897, the adjusted value of that $63,070 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 252 of 490 locally.
- The Minnesota median of $63,070 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $28,320 to $97,870. 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 $50,091 from $63,070. 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 252 of 490 locally.
- This $50,897 adjusted figure, worked from $63,070, 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 252 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 252 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 $69,720, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $28,320 and the top tenth $97,870 — 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 $50,897 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $50,091.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $69,720. 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 ($28,320) and the ninetieth ($97,870) 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 $50,897 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 $50,091 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.