Technical Writers in Minnesota

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,271
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$19,999
24.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$64,289
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
$83,270
Kept after tax
$63,271
Worth in national money
$64,289
State rank
24
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Minnesota pays technical writers around $83,270 at the midpoint, 24 of 45 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Technical writers ranks 131 among 490 occupations Minnesota publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $83,270, tax leaves $63,271, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $64,289 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $88,770, since top earners drag the number up.
- For technical writers the Minnesota median is $83,270, ranking 24 of 45 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Position 131 of 490 in Minnesota places technical writers 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 technical writers — median $83,270 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $63,271 retained, $64,289 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $88,770 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Technical Writers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $58,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $83,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $127,390 |
| This salary | $83,270 |
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 | $63,271 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,410 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,081 |
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 | $77,387 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,018 |
| 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 technical writers in Minnesota earn under $83,270 and half over. The published range runs $58,670 at the tenth percentile to $127,390 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 $63,271, worked from $83,270. 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 131 of 490.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $64,289 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 131.
- Figures are distribution medians for technical writers in Minnesota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $58,670 to $127,390; 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 $63,271, on $83,270 for work ranking 131 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 131 of 490 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $64,289, worked from $83,270, 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 131 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 $88,770, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $58,670 at the bottom tenth to $127,390 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $64,289 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 $63,271 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $88,770. 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 ($58,670) and the ninetieth ($127,390) 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 $64,289 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 $63,271 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.