Architects, Except Landscape and Naval in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$67,533
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$20,897
23.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$71,703
Michigan costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Michigan — 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
$88,430
Kept after tax
$67,533
Worth in national money
$71,703
State rank
43
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Michigan. The middle earner gets $88,430. That is 43 of 51 states, and about 10.93% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Within Michigan this is well-paid work. Of 493 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 92 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Michigan is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $88,430 the take-home is $67,533; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $71,703 would nationally. The average comes to $93,870, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For architects, except landscape and naval, Michigan sits in the lower band at $88,430, ranking 43 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 10.93%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Ranked against every occupation Michigan publishes a median for, architects, except landscape and naval sits 92 of 493 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Post-tax income for architects, except landscape and naval in Michigan, on $88,430, is $67,533 — equivalent to $71,703 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $93,870 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Architects, Except Landscape and Naval
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $59,850 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $88,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $135,520 |
| This salary | $88,430 |
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 Michigan | $67,533 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $71,041 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,403 |
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 | $83,444 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,937 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $88,430 as a midpoint for Michigan, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $59,850 and the ninetieth is $135,520 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Michigan's $67,533, worked from $88,430. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 92 of 493.
- Two cautions on $71,703, the adjusted value of that $88,430 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Michigan. 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 92 of 493 locally.
- The Michigan median of $88,430 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $59,850 to $135,520. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Michigan take-home of $67,533, on $88,430 for work ranking 92 of 493 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 92 of 493 in the state.
- This $71,703 adjusted figure, worked from $88,430, 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 92 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 92 of 493 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 $93,870, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $59,850 and the top tenth $135,520 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $71,703.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Michigan adds its own income tax on top — which is why $67,533 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 Michigan is $93,870. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($59,850) and the ninetieth ($135,520) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Michigan'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 $71,703 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 $67,533 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Michigan 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.