Civil Engineers in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$69,959
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$22,141
24.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$74,279
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
$92,100
Kept after tax
$69,959
Worth in national money
$74,279
State rank
46
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Michigan is among the lower-paying states for civil engineers. The middle earner takes $92,100, ranking 46 of 51 states — about 8.67% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Michigan. It ranks 86 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Michigan is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $92,100 the take-home is $69,959; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $74,279 would nationally. The average comes to $94,870, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Michigan ranks 46 of 51 for civil engineers, with a median of $92,100 — about 8.67% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Within Michigan, civil engineers ranks 86 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.
- Post-tax income for civil engineers in Michigan, on $92,100, is $69,959 — equivalent to $74,279 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 $94,870 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Civil Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $63,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $92,100 |
| Top tenth earn over | $130,400 |
| This salary | $92,100 |
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 | $69,959 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $73,622 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,484 |
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 | $86,892 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,050 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $92,100 as a midpoint for Michigan, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $63,920 and the ninetieth is $130,400 — 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 $69,959, worked from $92,100. 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 86 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Michigan, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $74,279, the adjusted value of that $92,100 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 86 of 493 in the state.
- The Michigan median of $92,100 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $63,920 to $130,400. 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 $69,959, on $92,100 for work ranking 86 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 86 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Michigan, so $74,279 — the adjusted value of that $92,100 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 86 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 $94,870 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 $63,920, the highest tenth $130,400, 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 $74,279.
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 $69,959 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $94,870. 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 ($63,920) and the ninetieth ($130,400) 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 $74,279 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 $69,959 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.