Public Safety Telecommunicators in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,646
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$13,904
20.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,493
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
$66,550
Kept after tax
$52,646
Worth in national money
$53,493
State rank
5
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Minnesota's middle earner gets $66,550, putting the state 5 of 51 — about 25.47% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 233 among 490 occupations Minnesota publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $66,550, tax leaves $52,646, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $53,493 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $69,740, since top earners drag the number up.
- For public safety telecommunicators, Minnesota sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $66,550, ranking 5 of 51 and running about 25.47% 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.
- Position 233 of 490 in Minnesota places public safety telecommunicators in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Because Minnesota sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for public safety telecommunicators — median $66,550 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $52,646 retained, $53,493 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $69,740 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Public Safety Telecommunicators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $54,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $66,550 |
| Top tenth earn over | $84,960 |
| This salary | $66,550 |
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 | $52,646 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,648 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,773 |
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 | $62,808 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,569 |
| 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 $66,550. The published range is $54,400 up to $84,960, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Minnesota's $52,646, worked from $66,550. 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 233 of 490.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $53,493 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 233.
- Reported values are medians; for public safety telecommunicators in Minnesota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $54,400 to $84,960. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Minnesota take-home of $52,646, on $66,550 for work ranking 233 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 233 of 490 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $53,493, worked from $66,550, 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 233 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 $69,740 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 $54,400 at the bottom tenth to $84,960 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $53,493.
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 $52,646.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $69,740. 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 ($54,400 to $84,960) 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 $53,493 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 $52,646 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.