Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$72,105
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$25,065
25.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$73,265
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
$97,170
Kept after tax
$72,105
Worth in national money
$73,265
State rank
18
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Minnesota is 18 of 45 states for this job, with a middle wage of $97,170. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Minnesota. It ranks 88 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 $97,170 the take-home is $72,105, which is worth about $73,265 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $108,160, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Minnesota ranks 18 of 45 for political science teachers, postsecondary at $97,170. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Within Minnesota, political science teachers, postsecondary ranks 88 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 political science teachers, postsecondary on its $97,170 median: $72,105 retained after tax becomes $73,265 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $108,160 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $73,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $97,170 |
| Top tenth earn over | $168,550 |
| This salary | $97,170 |
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 | $72,105 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $77,189 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,168 |
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 | $89,943 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,520 |
| 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 political science teachers, postsecondary in Minnesota earn under $97,170 and half over. The published range runs $73,670 at the tenth percentile to $168,550 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $72,105 take-home in Minnesota comes from $97,170. 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 88 of 490.
- One number stands for prices across all of Minnesota, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $73,265, the adjusted value of that $97,170 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 88 of 490 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for political science teachers, postsecondary in Minnesota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $73,670 to $168,550; 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 $72,105, from $97,170, 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 88 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 18 of 45 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Minnesota, so $73,265 — the adjusted value of that $97,170 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 88 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 $108,160 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 $73,670, the highest tenth $168,550, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $73,265 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, $72,105 remains.
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 45 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 $108,160. 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 ($73,670) and the ninetieth ($168,550) 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 $73,265 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 $72,105 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.