Optometrists in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$110,113
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$48,587
30.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$111,884
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
$158,700
Kept after tax
$110,113
Worth in national money
$111,884
State rank
7
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for optometrists is strong here. Minnesota's middle earner gets $158,700, putting the state 7 of 51 — about 16.2% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Minnesota. It ranks 13 out of 490 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $158,700 the take-home is $110,113, which is worth about $111,884 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $151,450, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For optometrists, Minnesota sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $158,700, ranking 7 of 51 and running about 16.2% 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.
- Within Minnesota, optometrists ranks 13 of 490 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Minnesota's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for optometrists on its $158,700 median: $110,113 retained after tax becomes $111,884 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $151,450 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Optometrists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $96,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $158,700 |
| Top tenth earn over | $206,960 |
| This salary | $158,700 |
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 | $110,113 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $119,737 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$11,335 |
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 | $144,618 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$16,115 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $158,700 as a midpoint for Minnesota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $96,670 and the ninetieth is $206,960 — 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 $110,113, worked from $158,700. 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 13 of 490.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $111,884 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 13.
- The Minnesota median of $158,700 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $96,670 to $206,960. 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 $110,113, on $158,700 for work ranking 13 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 13 of 490 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $111,884, worked from $158,700, 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 13 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $151,450 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $96,670 at the bottom tenth to $206,960 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $111,884 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $110,113 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 $151,450. 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 ($96,670 to $206,960) 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 $111,884 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 $110,113 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.