Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,858
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$21,482
24.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$66,917
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
$87,340
Kept after tax
$65,858
Worth in national money
$66,917
State rank
15
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Minnesota's middle earner gets $87,340, putting the state 15 of 46 — about 3.62% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Minnesota. It ranks 112 out of 490 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $87,340, tax leaves $65,858, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $66,917 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $94,000, since top earners drag the number up.
- For sociology teachers, postsecondary, Minnesota sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $87,340, ranking 15 of 46 and running about 3.62% 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.
- Within Minnesota, sociology teachers, postsecondary ranks 112 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.
- Because Minnesota sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for sociology teachers, postsecondary — median $87,340 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $65,858 retained, $66,917 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $94,000 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $62,470 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $87,340 |
| Top tenth earn over | $131,700 |
| This salary | $87,340 |
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 | $65,858 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $70,274 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,399 |
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 | $81,063 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,458 |
| 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 sociology teachers, postsecondary in Minnesota earn under $87,340 and half over. The published range runs $62,470 at the tenth percentile to $131,700 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Minnesota's $65,858, worked from $87,340. 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 112 of 490.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $66,917 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 112.
- Figures are distribution medians for sociology teachers, postsecondary in Minnesota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $62,470 to $131,700; 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.
- The Minnesota take-home of $65,858, on $87,340 for work ranking 112 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 112 of 490 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $66,917, worked from $87,340, 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 112 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $94,000, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $62,470 and the top tenth $131,700 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Minnesota sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $66,917 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $65,858 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 46 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 $94,000. 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 ($62,470) and the ninetieth ($131,700) 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 $66,917 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 $65,858 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.