What Waiters and Waitresses earn in Scott County, MN
According to the latest federal wage data for the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI metropolitan area, the median pay for Waiters and Waitresses in Scott County, MN is $25,920 a year, or $12.46 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $22,333 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Scott County, MN.
The mean wage is $31,300, which is 20.8% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 25,620 people working in this occupation across the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Scott County, MN has roughly 154,557 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Waiters and Waitresses in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $23,260 a year ($11.18 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $43,280 or more ($20.81 an hour). That is a gap of $20,020 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $23,650 at the 25th percentile and $33,120 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.9 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Waiters and Waitresses in Scott County, MN is $12.46. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $25,920, and the same salary is $2,160 a month before taxes or about $997 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $10.74 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Waiters and Waitresses
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Waiters and Waitresses this way: "Take orders and serve food and beverages to patrons at tables in dining establishment."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Check patrons' identification to ensure that they meet minimum age requirements for consumption of alcoholic beverages"; "Collect payments from customers"; "Write patrons' food orders on order slips, memorize orders, or enter orders into computers for transmittal to kitchen staff"; "Take orders from patrons for food or beverages".
Job outlook for Waiters and Waitresses
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 2,284,400 jobs in 2025 to 2,330,900 in 2035, a change of +2%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 423,100 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 18.5% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: no formal educational credential. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $35,230 for this occupation; the Scott County, MN median of $25,920 is 26.4% below it.
How pay in Scott County, MN compares
Compared with the Minnesota average
Pay for Waiters and Waitresses in Scott County, MN is in line with the statewide figure: $25,920 locally against an employment-weighted Minnesota average of $25,793, a difference of only $127 (0.5%). Within Minnesota, Scott County, MN already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Waiters and Waitresses is $33,856 across the contiguous United States. At $25,920, Scott County, MN pays $7,936 less, which is 23.4% below that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Scott County, MN
Among the 586 occupations with published wages in Scott County, MN, Waiters and Waitresses ranks number 585 by median pay, ahead of about 0% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $178,080 a year, which is $152,160 more than the median for Waiters and Waitresses.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $25,920 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $3,587 a year, which leaves $22,333, or $1,861 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $14 goes to taxes and $86 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 13.8%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $10,170. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 10% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $1,017, an effective 3.9% of gross pay, well below the 10% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $1,607 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $376. FICA totals $1,983, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Minnesota
Minnesota income tax on this salary is $587 a year, or 2.3% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 58% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $49 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Scott County, MN
IRS Statistics of Income data for Scott County, MN show an average adjusted gross income of $113,476 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 14.9% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.6%, compared with the 3.9% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Scott County, MN
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Scott County, MN: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $22,333 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Scott County, MN is $1,427 a month, or $17,124 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,734 a month. For Waiters and Waitresses, a one-bedroom absorbs 76.7% of take-home pay and 66.1% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 13.3% of gross pay for Waiters and Waitresses in Scott County, MN. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Minnesota residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,632 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $409, for $2,041 in total. Gasoline in Minnesota averages $3.15 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,458.
What is left over
The basics cost $24,059 a year in Scott County, MN, but take-home pay for Waiters and Waitresses is $22,333. That is a shortfall of $1,726 a year, or $144 a month, before health care, transportation beyond fuel, debt or savings. Closing the gap would take roughly 161 extra paid hours a year at the take-home hourly rate of $10.74, or a second earner, a cheaper home or a roommate.
Local housing and commute data for Scott County, MN
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Scott County, MN: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Scott County, MN, set beside the Minnesota and national medians.
Property taxes in Scott County, MN
Homeowners in Scott County, MN pay a median of $4,230 a year in real estate taxes, 26% above the Minnesota median of $3,357 and 36% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $419,400, the median tax bill is 1.01% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Waiters and Waitresses median of $25,920, a tax bill of that size would equal 16.3% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Scott County, MN
Renters in Scott County, MN pay a median gross rent of $1,568 a month in the Census survey, 23% above the Minnesota median of $1,280. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,427 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $419,400, 27% above the Minnesota median of $329,300. Median household income is $119,314, 34% above the Minnesota median of $89,062, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 14.4% of that income.
Commuting in Scott County, MN
Workers in Scott County, MN who travel to a workplace spend an average of 24.8 minutes each way, 9% above the Minnesota average of 22.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.1 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 19.7% of workers in Scott County, MN work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Waiters and Waitresses afford to live in Scott County, MN?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $25,920 that ceiling is $648 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,427 is $779 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $27.44 an hour; the median for Waiters and Waitresses is $12.46, which is 55% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $10.74 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 30.7 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,734 a month means $867 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $6,720 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $4,994, which turns the shortfall into a surplus.
How fast you can save
With no monthly margin after the four basics, saving requires a change on one side of the ledger: higher pay than the $25,920 median, lower housing costs than the $1,427 one-bedroom rent, or a second income.
Frequently asked questions about Waiters and Waitresses pay in Scott County, MN
What is the hourly wage for Waiters and Waitresses in Scott County, MN?
The median is $12.46 per hour, based on $25,920 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $11.18 at the 10th percentile to $20.81 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Waiters and Waitresses in Scott County, MN?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $25,920 becomes $22,333 a year. That is $1,861 a month, $859 every two weeks or $429 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Waiters and Waitresses in Scott County, MN?
Total taxes are $3,587 a year, an effective rate of 13.8%: $1,017 federal income tax, $1,983 FICA and $587 Minnesota income tax.
Is pay for Waiters and Waitresses in Scott County, MN above the Minnesota average?
It is about the same. The local median of $25,920 is within 0.5% of the Minnesota average of $25,793.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Waiters and Waitresses salary in Scott County, MN?
A one-bedroom costs $1,427 a month against take-home pay of $1,861, which is 76.7% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $648 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Waiters and Waitresses in Scott County, MN?
Nothing remains: the basics cost $24,059 a year, which is $1,726 more than take-home pay, a monthly shortfall of $144.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Scott County, MN at the 30% guideline?
$27.44 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $17,124 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Waiters and Waitresses is $12.46.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Minnesota rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.