Credit Counselors in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,125
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$10,035
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,726
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
$52,160
Kept after tax
$42,125
Worth in national money
$44,726
State rank
22
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Michigan sits in the middle of the pack for credit counselors. The median is $52,160, ranking 22 of 46 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Michigan, this sits in the middle: 286 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $52,160 you keep $42,125 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $44,726 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $57,490, since top earners drag the number up.
- Michigan occupies the middle band for credit counselors: a median of $52,160, ranking 22 of 46. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Credit counselors ranks 286 of 493 occupations in Michigan by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in Michigan is $42,125 after the full tax stack, from $52,160. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $44,726 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $57,490 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Credit Counselors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $52,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,970 |
| This salary | $52,160 |
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 | $42,125 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $44,091 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$647 |
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 | $49,713 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$782 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $52,160 as a midpoint for Michigan, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $39,440 and the ninetieth is $77,970 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $42,125 take-home in Michigan comes from $52,160. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 286 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Michigan, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $44,726, the adjusted value of that $52,160 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 286 of 493 in the state.
- The Michigan median of $52,160 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $39,440 to $77,970. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $42,125, from $52,160, assumes a single Michigan filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 286 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 22 of 46 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Michigan, so $44,726 — the adjusted value of that $52,160 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 286 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $57,490, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $39,440 and the top tenth $77,970 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Michigan is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $44,726 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Michigan then takes its own share, leaving $42,125.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $57,490. 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 ($39,440) and the ninetieth ($77,970) 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 $44,726 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 $42,125 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.