Physics Teachers, Postsecondary in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$78,504
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$28,736
26.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$79,767
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
$107,240
Kept after tax
$78,504
Worth in national money
$79,767
State rank
8
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Minnesota pays physics teachers, postsecondary a middle wage of $107,240, ranking 8 of 47 states and sitting about 6.91% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 490 occupations Minnesota reports, physics teachers, postsecondary comes in at 49 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- No great distortion either way. Minnesota costs about what the country costs, so from $107,240, take-home of $78,504 is worth roughly $79,767 in national money. The average comes to $118,530, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Minnesota's median for physics teachers, postsecondary is $107,240, about 6.91% above the national figure and 8 of 47 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Physics teachers, postsecondary ranks 49 of 490 occupations by median in Minnesota, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Price parity in Minnesota is near the national base, so for physics teachers, postsecondary, whose median is $107,240, the adjusted figure of $79,767 differs little from $78,504 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $118,530 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Physics Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $65,150 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $107,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $164,950 |
| This salary | $107,240 |
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 | $78,504 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $84,273 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,956 |
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 | $99,040 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,609 |
| 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 physics teachers, postsecondary in Minnesota earn under $107,240 and half over. The published range runs $65,150 at the tenth percentile to $164,950 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $78,504 take-home in Minnesota comes from $107,240. 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 49 of 490.
- Two cautions on $79,767, the adjusted value of that $107,240 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 49 of 490 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for physics teachers, postsecondary in Minnesota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $65,150 to $164,950; 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 $78,504, from $107,240, 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 49 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 8 of 47 for it.
- This $79,767 adjusted figure, worked from $107,240, 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 49 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 49 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 $118,530 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $65,150, the highest tenth $164,950, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $79,767.
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 $78,504.
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 $118,530. 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 ($65,150) and the ninetieth ($164,950) 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 $79,767 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 $78,504 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.