Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,682
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$14,498
21.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,545
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
$68,180
Kept after tax
$53,682
Worth in national money
$54,545
State rank
11
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Minnesota's middle earner gets $68,180, putting the state 11 of 50 — about 27.82% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 490 occupations Minnesota reports figures for, this is number 226.
- No great distortion either way. Minnesota costs about what the country costs, so from $68,180, take-home of $53,682 is worth roughly $54,545 in national money. The average comes to $71,850, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators, Minnesota sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $68,180, ranking 11 of 50 and running about 27.82% 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.
- In Minnesota's occupational distribution, paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators sits at 226 of 490 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Price parity in Minnesota is near the national base, so for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators, whose median is $68,180, the adjusted figure of $54,545 differs little from $53,682 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $71,850 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,310 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $68,180 |
| Top tenth earn over | $99,920 |
| This salary | $68,180 |
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 | $53,682 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $56,795 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,900 |
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 | $64,097 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,926 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators in Minnesota earn under $68,180 and half over. The published range runs $50,310 at the tenth percentile to $99,920 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $53,682 take-home in Minnesota comes from $68,180. 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 226 of 490.
- One number stands for prices across all of Minnesota, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $54,545, the adjusted value of that $68,180 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 226 of 490 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators in Minnesota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $50,310 to $99,920; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $53,682, from $68,180, 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 226 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 11 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Minnesota, so $54,545 — the adjusted value of that $68,180 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 226 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 $71,850 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $50,310 at the bottom tenth to $99,920 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $54,545.
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 $53,682 of this wage survives to your account.
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 50 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 $71,850. 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 ($50,310) and the ninetieth ($99,920) 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 $54,545 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 $53,682 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.