Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$57,806
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$16,864
22.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,736
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
$74,670
Kept after tax
$57,806
Worth in national money
$58,736
State rank
6
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Minnesota's middle earner gets $74,670, putting the state 6 of 50 — about 24.41% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 490 occupations Minnesota reports figures for, this is number 203.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $74,670, tax leaves $57,806, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $58,736 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $71,490.
- For water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators, Minnesota sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $74,670, ranking 6 of 50 and running about 24.41% 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.
- In Minnesota's occupational distribution, water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators sits at 203 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 water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators — median $74,670 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $57,806 retained, $58,736 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $71,490 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $52,130 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $74,670 |
| Top tenth earn over | $87,250 |
| This salary | $74,670 |
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 | $57,806 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,360 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,408 |
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 | $69,618 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,089 |
| 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 water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators in Minnesota earn under $74,670 and half over. The published range runs $52,130 at the tenth percentile to $87,250 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Minnesota the take-home figure of $57,806, from $74,670, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 203 of 490 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $58,736, the adjusted value of that $74,670 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 203 of 490 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators in Minnesota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $52,130 to $87,250; 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.
- Take-home for Minnesota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $57,806 from $74,670. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 203 of 490 locally.
- This $58,736 adjusted figure, worked from $74,670, 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 203 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 203 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 $71,490, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $52,130 and the top tenth $87,250, so most people doing this work in Minnesota sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $58,736.
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 $57,806.
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 50 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 $71,490. 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 ($52,130 to $87,250) 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 $58,736 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 $57,806 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.