Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,964
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$10,416
19.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,655
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
$53,380
Kept after tax
$42,964
Worth in national money
$43,655
State rank
5
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Minnesota is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $53,380, which ranks 5 of 45 states with published figures. That is about 24.4% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 490 occupations Minnesota reports figures for, this is number 330.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $53,380, tax leaves $42,964, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $43,655 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $51,350.
- Minnesota ranks 5 of 45 states publishing a median for teaching assistants, postsecondary, at $53,380 — about 24.4% 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.
- In Minnesota's occupational distribution, teaching assistants, postsecondary sits at 330 of 490 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Because Minnesota sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for teaching assistants, postsecondary — median $53,380 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $42,964 retained, $43,655 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $51,350 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,450 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $53,380 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,780 |
| This salary | $53,380 |
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 | $42,964 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $45,071 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,726 |
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 | $50,758 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,296 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $53,380 as a midpoint for Minnesota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $24,450 and the ninetieth is $61,780 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Minnesota's $42,964, worked from $53,380. 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 330 of 490.
- Two cautions on $43,655, the adjusted value of that $53,380 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 330 of 490 locally.
- The Minnesota median of $53,380 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $24,450 to $61,780. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Minnesota take-home of $42,964, on $53,380 for work ranking 330 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 330 of 490 in the state.
- This $43,655 adjusted figure, worked from $53,380, 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 330 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 330 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $51,350, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $24,450 at the bottom tenth to $61,780 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $43,655 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $42,964.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 45 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $51,350. 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 ($24,450 to $61,780) 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 $43,655 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 $42,964 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.