Clergy in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,420
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$11,070
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,224
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
$56,490
Kept after tax
$45,420
Worth in national money
$48,224
State rank
42
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Michigan pays clergy a middle wage of $56,490, 42 of 50 states and about 7.1% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Clergy ranks 265 among 493 occupations Michigan publishes pay for.
- Michigan is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $56,490 the take-home is $45,420; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $48,224 would nationally. The average lands at $55,620, below the middle of the range.
- Michigan's $56,490 median for clergy places it 42 of 50 states, about 7.1% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 265 of 493 in Michigan places clergy in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Post-tax income for clergy in Michigan, on $56,490, is $45,420 — equivalent to $48,224 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 $55,620 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Clergy
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,490 |
| Top tenth earn over | $74,470 |
| This salary | $56,490 |
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 | $45,420 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,570 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$728 |
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 | $53,814 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$881 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $56,490 as a midpoint for Michigan, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,730 and the ninetieth is $74,470 — 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 $45,420, worked from $56,490. 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 265 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Michigan, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $48,224, the adjusted value of that $56,490 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 265 of 493 in the state.
- The Michigan median of $56,490 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,730 to $74,470. 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 $45,420, on $56,490 for work ranking 265 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 265 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Michigan, so $48,224 — the adjusted value of that $56,490 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 265 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $36,730 at the tenth percentile, $74,470 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Michigan sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $48,224 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Michigan's own levy, $45,420 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($36,730 to $74,470) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Michigan rather than a national figure.
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 $48,224 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 $45,420 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.