Tomorrow is the deadline for Minnesotans to file their 2025 taxes. When he or she does, the average earning, single filing Minnesotan will hand over 4.9% of their 2025 wages to the state government, a higher share than in 43 out of 50 other states, as Figure 1 shows.
Figure 1: State income tax as a share of Average Annual Pay, 2025
This share is up 0.2 percentage points from 4.7% a decade ago, in 2016. Indeed, Minnesota is one of just 16 states where the share of the average earner’s wages swallowed up by the state government in income tax has increased over the last decade, as Figure 2 shows. IN 20 statesm it has fallen.
Figure 2: Change in state income tax as a share of Average Annual Pay, 2016 to 2025, percentage point
A couple of questions for the average earning Minnesotan to ask him or herself as he or she signs that check to the state government; am I getting more in return than the residents in those 43 other states? Am I getting more in return than I was ten years ago?
