Art Directors in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$66,363
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$20,297
23.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$70,461
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
$86,660
Kept after tax
$66,363
Worth in national money
$70,461
State rank
28
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Michigan pays art directors around $86,660 at the midpoint, 28 of 46 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Michigan. It ranks 95 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Here is where Michigan does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $86,660 you keep $66,363, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $70,461 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $98,020, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For art directors the Michigan median is $86,660, ranking 28 of 46 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Michigan, art directors ranks 95 of 493 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- After federal, FICA and Michigan income tax, retained pay for art directors on $86,660 is $66,363. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $70,461 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $98,020 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Art Directors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $54,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $86,660 |
| Top tenth earn over | $166,880 |
| This salary | $86,660 |
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 | $66,363 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $69,795 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,363 |
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 | $81,781 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,883 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Michigan earn less than $86,660. The published range is $54,590 up to $166,880, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Michigan's $66,363, worked from $86,660. 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 95 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Michigan, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $70,461, the adjusted value of that $86,660 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 95 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for art directors in Michigan the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $54,590 to $166,880. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Michigan take-home of $66,363, on $86,660 for work ranking 95 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 95 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Michigan, so $70,461 — the adjusted value of that $86,660 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 95 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $98,020 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $54,590, the highest tenth $166,880, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $70,461.
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 $66,363 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 46 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $98,020. 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 ($54,590) and the ninetieth ($166,880) 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 $70,461 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 $66,363 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.