The latest occupational employment numbers available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) put medical transcriptionist employment at more than 55,800 as of May 2021.  At that time, an estimated 3,270 medical transcriptionists were working in the seven-state Great Plains region.  A review of BLS data revealed the Great Plains region to be a modestly good pay region for medical transcriptionists. More than 60% of region's medical transcriptionists lived in one of the four Great Plains states where the annual mean wage level for the profession topped the national average.  This included Minnesota, which ranked among the top five states in the nation for medical transcriptionist annual mean wages.  A deeper dive into BLS data from May 2021 reveals the following about medical transcriptionist pay in the Great Plains region:

Medical Transcriptionist Pay in the Great Plains Region

State	# Employed	Annual Mean Wages	Wage Rank*
IA	570	$33,600	34th
KS	510	$33,870	33rd
MN	690	$44,390	3rd
MO	680	$35,060	26th
NE	480	$36,950	21st
ND	340	$33,940	32nd
SD	380	$39,350	13th
U.S.	55,830	$34,220	-------

(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OES. Data accessed on June 4, 2022