Opticians, Dispensing in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,014
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$9,006
18.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,641
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
$48,020
Kept after tax
$39,014
Worth in national money
$39,641
State rank
20
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Minnesota is 20 of 51 states for opticians, dispensing, with a middle wage of $48,020. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Minnesota this is lower-paid work. Of 490 occupations the state publishes figures for, opticians, dispensing ranks 380. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Minnesota costs about what the country costs, so from $48,020, take-home of $39,014 is worth roughly $39,641 in national money. The average comes to $50,370, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Minnesota ranks 20 of 51 for opticians, dispensing at $48,020. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Minnesota reports, opticians, dispensing ranks 380 of 490, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Price parity in Minnesota is near the national base, so for opticians, dispensing, whose median is $48,020, the adjusted figure of $39,641 differs little from $39,014 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $50,370 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Opticians, Dispensing
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,020 |
| Top tenth earn over | $67,490 |
| This salary | $48,020 |
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 | $39,014 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,764 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,308 |
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 | $45,841 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,791 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,020 as a midpoint for Minnesota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,920 and the ninetieth is $67,490 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Minnesota's $39,014, worked from $48,020. 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 380 of 490.
- Two cautions on $39,641, the adjusted value of that $48,020 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 380 of 490 locally.
- The Minnesota median of $48,020 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,920 to $67,490. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Minnesota take-home of $39,014, on $48,020 for work ranking 380 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 380 of 490 in the state.
- This $39,641 adjusted figure, worked from $48,020, 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 380 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 380 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 $50,370, 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 — $36,920 at the tenth percentile, $67,490 at the ninetieth.
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 $39,641.
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, $39,014 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 $50,370. 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 ($36,920 to $67,490) 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 $39,641 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 $39,014 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.