How much does a bookkeeper cost in Minnesota?
For a small business, outsourced bookkeeping runs from about $100 a month at the low end to $600 and up for a faster close with more handled. A full-time bookkeeper on payroll costs closer to $78,000 a year. Here is where those numbers come from, what moves the price, and what I charge.
Estimate your tier- $54,600
- Median Minnesota bookkeeping wage, per year
- $26.25
- The same, per hour
- $95 to $599
- Published starting prices for outsourced monthly bookkeeping
- From $400
- My first tier, per month, QuickBooks Online included
BLS May 2025 wage data and pricing pages checked October 2026. Sources at the bottom.
Estimate your tier.
Six questions about the business. You get the tier I would start you on, its starting price, and anything that gets quoted on its own, like payroll or catch-up.
Your tier shows here.
Answer all six and you get the tier I would start you on, its starting price, and what gets quoted on its own.
Your exact price comes from the questionnaire and a 15-minute call.
Three ways to pay for bookkeeping.
Every option buys the same thing: reconciled accounts and statements you can trust. What changes is how the cost is counted and who carries the risk when the month takes longer than planned.
An employee
The median wage for a bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerk in Minnesota is $54,600 a year, or $26.25 an hour. In the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro it is $57,790.
Wages are only part of the bill. Across private industry, wages are 70 percent of what an employer pays for a worker and benefits and payroll taxes are the other 30. At the state median, that puts a full-time bookkeeper at roughly $78,000 a year, before software, a desk and the time it takes to hire and train.
An hourly freelancer
You pay for time. A freelancer’s rate has to cover their own payroll taxes, software and the hours they cannot bill, so it sits above the $26.25 median employee wage.
The catch is that the monthly total moves. A messy month, a new account or a question that takes an afternoon all show up on the invoice. Ask for an estimate of hours per month before you start.
A flat monthly fee
One price for a defined scope. Published starting prices I found range from $95 to $150 a month at the low-cost end to $399 a month for a monthly close and $599 for a weekly one.
Starting prices assume clean books and low volume. Before you compare, check what is in the number: software, how many accounts, how fast the statements arrive, and whether you talk to the same person every month.
What a year costs.
The same comparison over twelve months. My tiers at their starting prices, against a part-time and a full-time employee at the Minnesota median wage.
Part-time: $26.25 an hour, 10 hours a week, wages only. Full-time: $54,600 in wages divided by 0.70 to add benefits and employer taxes. Both are estimates from BLS averages, not quotes.
- The Basics, from $400 a month$4,800
- The Foundation, from $600 a month$7,200
- Part-time employee, 10 hours a week at the Minnesota median wage (wages only)$13,650
- The Partner, from $1,800 a month$21,600
- Full-time employee at the Minnesota median wage, with benefits and employer taxes (estimate)$78,000
Six things that set the price.
Any honest quote starts with these. If a bookkeeper gives you a number without asking about them, the number will change later.
Transaction volume
Every deposit, card swipe and bill gets categorized. Twenty transactions a month and four hundred are different amounts of work. The Basics fits twenty to a few hundred.
Number of accounts
Each checking account, credit card, loan and payment processor gets reconciled every month. Three accounts is a different job from nine.
Payroll
Pay runs, filings and year-end W-2s. Here it is an add-on on The Foundation and The Partner, quoted by headcount, pay frequency and filings.
How far behind the books are
Months that were never reconciled have to be done before the monthly work can start. That is a separate, one-time catch-up quote.
What you want back, and how fast
Statements in 20 days, 15 or 10. A monthly check-in, or a review call twice a month. More of either moves you up a tier.
How the business is built
Inventory, job costing, deposits, separate departments or more than one entity all add structure the books have to carry every month.
If the books are behind, that is priced on its own. How catch-up bookkeeping is quoted.
Bookkeeping packages and prices here.
Three tiers, a starting price on each, QuickBooks Online included in all of them. Most owners land on The Foundation.
The Foundation
From $600/ month
For an owner who wants more of the accounting handled. Most people land here.
More about The Foundation→The Partner
From $1,800/ month
For an owner who wants a second set of eyes on the numbers and an ongoing financial partner.
More about The Partner→Payroll is an add-on on The Foundation and The Partner. Catch-up is quoted separately. Take the questionnaire and I will bring the tier and the number to the call.
What owners ask about bookkeeping cost.
If yours is not here, the 15-minute call is where it gets answered.
Published flat monthly prices from outsourced services I checked in October 2026 start at $95 to $150 a month at the low-cost end and $399 to $599 a month for a monthly or weekly close. Here, The Basics starts at $400 a month, The Foundation at $600 and The Partner at $1,800. Hiring in-house is a different scale: the median bookkeeping wage in Minnesota is $54,600 a year before benefits and employer taxes.
For a business with one to five employees, outsourcing is almost always cheaper. A full-time employee at the Minnesota median wage costs about $78,000 a year once benefits and employer taxes are added. The Foundation, which most owners land on, starts at $7,200 a year. Hiring makes sense when there is a full-time job's worth of work, which a small business rarely has.
No. The monthly work is a monthly price, with the starting number for each tier on this site. Catch-up and payroll are quoted separately, before the work starts, so the number does not move with the hours.
Yes. QuickBooks Online is included in every tier. Many services quote their fee and leave the software subscription to you, so ask about it when you compare.
More transactions, more accounts to reconcile, payroll, books that are behind, and work that needs more structure, like inventory, job costing or separate departments. The tier you pick also sets how fast the statements arrive: 20, 15 or 10 days after month-end.
Because an owner should know the shape of the number before spending time on a call. The prices are starting points. The 15-minute call is where I confirm the tier and the exact number for your business.
Sources
Checked October 12, 2026. Rules and published prices change; the linked page is the final word.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025, Minnesota, bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks (series OEUS270000000000043303113). Bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks (43-3031): median $54,600 a year, $26.25 an hour; 26,850 employed in Minnesota
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025, Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metro, same occupation (series OEUM003346000000043303113). Same occupation: median $57,790 a year, $27.78 an hour
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $46.89 per hour worked in June 2026. Wages and salaries were 70.0 percent of employer costs, benefits the other 30.0 percent
- Bookkeeper360, pricing page. Monthly plan from $399 a month, weekly plan from $599, prior bookkeeping cleanup from $1,000 per project
- Remote Books Online, Minnesota bookkeeping costs. Advertises flat monthly packages from $95, and $150 a month on its quote form
Get the exact number for your business.
The questionnaire takes about ten minutes. I read it before the 15-minute call and come with the tier and the price.