Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$70,351
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$24,059
25.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$71,483
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
$94,410
Kept after tax
$70,351
Worth in national money
$71,483
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Minnesota is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $94,410, which ranks 4 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 47.98% above the national middle.
- Within Minnesota this is well-paid work. Of 490 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 98 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $94,410 the take-home is $70,351, which is worth about $71,483 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $86,700, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Minnesota ranks 4 of 51 states publishing a median for plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters, at $94,410 — about 47.98% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Ranked against every occupation Minnesota publishes a median for, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters sits 98 of 490 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Minnesota's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters on its $94,410 median: $70,351 retained after tax becomes $71,483 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $86,700 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,720 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $94,410 |
| Top tenth earn over | $121,050 |
| This salary | $94,410 |
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 | $70,351 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $75,247 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,952 |
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 | $87,450 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,222 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Minnesota earn less than $94,410. The published range is $48,720 up to $121,050, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $70,351 take-home in Minnesota comes from $94,410. 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 98 of 490.
- One number stands for prices across all of Minnesota, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $71,483, the adjusted value of that $94,410 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 98 of 490 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters in Minnesota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $48,720 to $121,050. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $70,351, from $94,410, 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 98 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 4 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Minnesota, so $71,483 — the adjusted value of that $94,410 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 98 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 $86,700 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $48,720 and the top tenth $121,050 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Minnesota is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $71,483 in national terms.
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, $70,351 remains.
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 $86,700. 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 ($48,720) and the ninetieth ($121,050) 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 $71,483 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 $70,351 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.